A ferry boat trying to land at a Niger River town in the Timbuktu region of northern Mali hit rocks and sank in an accident that left dozens of people dead, local officials and relatives of the dead have said.
The accident took place Thursday at the town of Dir, officials said Tuesday. Local authorities had not yet released an official death toll, but regional resident and former National Assembly deputy Alkaidi Tour said Tuesday that 38 were killed and 23 survived.
Dir resident Moussa Ag Almoubarek Traor said he lost 21 family member in the accident, and that he helped retrieve and tally the dead with local officials.
I collected the bodies that were scattered across the river, and some were already decomposing. As I speak to you now, I can still smell the bodies, Traor said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
The boat was carrying families and farmers who had just harvested rice, witnesses said, arriving after nightfall when docking is banned due to security …​A ferry boat trying to land at a Niger River town in the Timbuktu region of northern Mali hit rocks and sank in an accident that left dozens of people dead, local officials and relatives of the dead have said.
The accident took place Thursday at the town of Dir, officials said Tuesday. Local authorities had not yet released an official death toll, but regional resident and former National Assembly deputy Alkaidi Tour said Tuesday that 38 were killed and 23 survived.
Dir resident Moussa Ag Almoubarek Traor said he lost 21 family member in the accident, and that he helped retrieve and tally the dead with local officials.
I collected the bodies that were scattered across the river, and some were already decomposing. As I speak to you now, I can still smell the bodies, Traor said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
The boat was carrying families and farmers who had just harvested rice, witnesses said, arriving after nightfall when docking is banned due to security … ​Latest News [ SOBAN NEWS: International and National ]
