LIBREVILLE (Reuters) – Gabonese authorities were searching on Monday for 31 people still missing after a ferry sank last week just off the coast of the central African country, killing six people.
The Esther Miracle ferry was carrying 161 passengers from Libreville to Port-Gentil when it sank on March 9 close to the coastal village of Nyonie.
“We have not stopped the search operations, we have continued them since the first day. As we speak, a boat is at the area with diving teams which are locating the shipwreck,” Gabon’s Prime Minister Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze told state broadcaster Gabon 1ere on Sunday.
The air force has been conducting daily search operations in order to find the missing people since the ferry sank, pilot Modeste Mezui told the state broadcaster.
“The search operation continues despite the large area of the operation zone,” Mezui added.
(Reporting by Gerauds Wilfried Obangome and Christophe Van Der Perre; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Toby Chopra)