The number of people believed missing in a ferry disaster off the coast of Gabon has risen to 34 after a reassessment, and the death toll has increased from two to three. At least one child and two adults have been found dead since the Esther Miracle—a mixed‑use freight and passenger vessel that traveled between the capital Libreville and the oil town of Port‑Gentil—sank in the early hours of Thursday not far from the coast, authorities said.
Initially, officials thought 151 passengers and crew were aboard the ship, but that figure was revised upward to 161 on Friday evening. “One hundred twenty‑four people have been rescued, three lifeless bodies have been found, and 34 people are still missing; the search continues,” Libreville deputy public prosecutor Loic Mangongo told public‑television channel Gabon Premiere. Mangongo did not explain how ten of the missing were omitted from the original count.
Since the initial tally given on Thursday afternoon, three more people have been rescued from the wreck, though authorities did not specify the circumstances of their recovery. With strong currents in the Gulf of Guinea where the ferry went down, the chances of finding additional survivors—or even bodies—are diminishing.
On Friday morning, experts were dispatched to the sinking site near the entrance to the bay that houses Libreville, where the water is about 30 metres deep. Libreville public prosecutor Andre Patrick Roponat told AFP on Thursday that an inquiry had been opened to determine whether negligence, poor maintenance, or “factors beyond human control” caused the accident. Pending the investigation’s outcome, the Gabonese government has suspended overnight passenger‑ship voyages until at least March 31 and has ordered an audit of all vessels dedicated to passenger transport in the country.
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