Gabon ends search mission for missing ferry passengers

Authorities in Gabon have announced the end of search and rescue operations to find the bodies of passengers trapped in a ferry accident in which dozens of people died last month.

The privately owned Esther Miracle vessel was carrying 161 people from the capital, Libreville, to Port-Gentil, an oil port town further south, when it capsized in calm waters on March 9 close to the coastal village of Nyonie.

“For 10 days, the search has been fruitless. Only suitcases and other personal effects of the ship’s passengers were found,” government spokesperson Yves Fernand Manfoumbi said on Wednesday.

The vast majority of the passengers on board the ferry were saved, but 30 people died and seven are still missing.

Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Alain Claude Bilie By Nze met the families of those still missing to share the news in advance.

“We are unfortunately forced to stop the search there, but the state stands alongside the families to support them,” he said.

More than 30 people have been arrested in relation to the accident, including officials at the transport ministry and the company that owned the vessel, Royal Cost Marine, public prosecutor Andre Patrick Roponat told AFP news agency.

Transport Minister Brice Paillat stepped down on March 17 following an outcry by relatives and civil society groups.

Four other officials have been suspended.

Many survivors said they received negligible help or guidance from the transport company.

Some of the passengers spent hours at sea clinging onto inflatable rafts before they were rescued by a flotilla of motorised canoes and a supply barge for the oil industry.