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CAMEROON-NIGERIA-BOAT-ACCIDENT
Three die in Cameroon ship capsize, scores saved
YAOUND, Aug 27, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – At least three people died
and scores were rescued after a ferry capsized off the coast of
Cameroon this week, according to state radio and a security
official.
“One hundred and seven survivors were pulled out of the water
as well as three corpses… the search is still under way,”
Cameroon Radio Television reported late Monday.
The accident took place overnight Sunday/Monday and survivors
were taken to nearby Limbe, a town on the Atlantic Ocean coast in
southwestern Cameroon, the state broadcaster said.
It said they were of Cameroonian, Nigerian and French
nationality.
A state radio claim that 40 were said to be missing was not
confirmed by other sources.
However, a security official in the Limbe region who asked
not to be named confirmed the death toll of three with 107
survivors.
A Facebook page used by people close to the armed forces said
that almost 200 people were on board and published photographs of
the overturned vessel.
“Salvage operations are continuing, since several bodies are
trapped inside the boat,” the site said.
The Journal du Cameroun newspaper said soldiers from the
elite Rapid Intervention Battalion were among the rescue workers,
along with the navy.
Contacted by AFP, a military spokesman did not respond
immediately.
The ship, named Austrheim, had sailed from Calabar in
neighbouring Nigeria and was due to dock at the major port of Tiko
in southwestern Cameroon, media reports said.
BSS/AFP/SSS/2011 hrs