Fatal shipwreck of a ferry in Gabon: 33 people arrested

Thirty-three people were arrested as part of a criminal investigation into the fatal sinking of a small ferry a week ago in Gabon, the provisional toll of which stands at 21 dead and 16 missing, announced this Friday at the AFP the public prosecutor. In total, 124 of the 161 passengers and crew members of the Esther Miracle, a mixed passenger and freight ship which sank on March 9 in the middle of the night not far from the Gabonese coast, had been rescued.

Most in custody

Among these 33 people for “mostIn police custody, there are in particular members of the Ministry of Transport, the Merchant Navy, as well as the company that owns the boat, said the public prosecutor of Libreville, André Patrick Roponat, contacted by AFP.

The day before, the Gabonese Minister of Transport, Brice Paillat, had submitted his resignation to the President of the Republic, Ali Bongo Ondimba, who accepted it, had indicated the presidency in a press release without reference to the sinking. Many voices – families of the victims, opposition, civil society groups – had risen in recent days to demand at least the resignation of Mr. Paillat, in addition to the suspension announced by the government of four executives of the administration Merchant Navy and Maritime Affairs.

This ship, which belongs to the private company, Royal Cost Marine (RCM), and whose date of construction is unknown, had been purchased and inaugurated in November. It provided links between the Gabonese capital Libreville and the oil port of Port-Gentil. Castaways have testified in various media not to have been guided by the crew during the evacuation, to have remained for many hours in the water clinging to inflatable rescue boats which took on water or to their lifebuoys , before the arrival of first aid, in particular canoes and a barge from a private company. The shipwreck took place 10 km from the coast and not far from the entrance to the gulf which shelters Libreville.