A sinking of a ferry in Gabon, leaving Libreville to reach Port-Gentil, left at least two dead and 28 missing overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.
After the ship's departure, "
the crew reported a leak between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.
," said the company Royal Cost Marine Thursday morning on its Facebook page.
“
This intrusion led to a loss of control of the boat.
The authorities have been alerted and the emergency services are on the scene, the passengers are being rescued
, ”assured the company.
Prime Minister on the spot
The first survivors arrived at the end of the morning on board motorized canoes, barges or Navy ships, at the Port Mole pier from where the ferry had left with 151 passengers on board, according to an official. port authorities who wished to remain anonymous.
As soon as they arrive, the survivors are taken directly to the ambulances to receive first aid while a large tent has been set up to welcome them, noted an AFP journalist.
A young woman was carried on a stretcher under a survival blanket to an ambulance.
A firefighter also carried a haggard baby, also wrapped in a blanket, according to an AFP journalist.
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The Prime Minister, Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze, and the Minister of the Interior, Lambert Noël Matha, were still on site at midday.
Faced with dozens of stretchers lined up on the quay, families, eaten away by anxiety, are kept away.
Some people try to climb the barriers that block access to the platforms hoping to see someone close to them.
religious songs
A woman laments and tries to see the pants of a survivor: "
I know what pants he was wearing last night
," she comments, looking desperately through the railings.
"
At 4 a.m. a friend from the police called me to say he had had my son and a friend of his on the phone telling him they were sinking,
" he told AFP. Jean-Félix Moungonga who will only be reassured when he sees his son "
with [his] eyes
".
Other survivors also disembarked from a barge from the oil logistics company Peschaud which took part in the rescue, to applause and cries of joy.
Barely feet on solid ground, some passengers gathered and knelt on the platform, palms open to the sky, before singing religious songs and thanking God, noted an AFP journalist.
“
God, Lord, you saved us from the waters, we will make sacrifices for you, thank you Lord,
” shouted a survivor in the middle of others praying.
“
I have two parents, my cousin and his wife in the boat.
I received a phone call around 3 a.m. and they told me that they were sinking
,” a woman who wished to remain anonymous told AFP.
According to the families present, a crisis cell was set up on Thursday morning.
