“The pain still sharp”, headlines the Senegalese daily The sun for its issue devoted to the twenty years of the sinking of the Joola. On September 26, 2002, this ferry had just left Ziguinchor, capital of the Senegalese region of Casamance, for the capital, Dakar, when it capsized.
If the official report shows 1,863 deaths, the victims’ associations identify the death “of 2,000 passengers of 12 different nationalities”, indicates the Moroccan site Le360. However, no one seemed to know the “exact number of passengers at the time of the sinking”, since only some “1,034 people” had their tickets, tempers the Senegalese news site Sunuker.
The ship, considered at the time as the only maritime link between Casamance and Dakar, capsized mainly because of the “surcharge”, note Sunuker. With a capacity of only “580 passengers”, dont “44 crew members”, the boat was triple “its official capacity”, specify the site Senego.
Macky Sall’s “lack of consideration”
Two decades later, the victims’ associations are still asking for the wreck to be refloated. However, the operation remains “very delicate” to execute. The Joola has indeed failed “in one of the most corrosive areas in the world”, indeed“the salinity rate in this place is very high”, Explain Sunuker.
But the media calls on the Senegalese authorities to appease the families of the victims since “bailout today remains impossible”: henceforth, the place of the shipwreck should symbolically act as “graveyard”.
Furthermore, the site Public.SN raises for its part a “lack of consideration” which the Senegalese president, Macky Sall, would have shown with regard to the tragedy and its victims. Indeed, the Head of State “never set foot in the commemoration of the sinking”, reports the media.