The ill-fated Pam Pa
The Harbour Secretary at the Tagrin Wharf has confirmed to Politico that they have recovered 19 bodies so far following the Saturday night boat accident involving a vessel apparently working for the iron ore miner, African Minerals Limited (AML) and a local dugout passenger canoe known as Pam Pa.
Usman Mallam Bangura said all bodies had been claimed by their families. They included seven children (six girls and one boy) and eight women. He said they pulled out four on the night of the accident and the remaining 15 on the days that followed, adding that recovery efforts were still ongoing with more bodies expected to be brought out.
Bangura also confirmed that they rescued 42 passengers on the night of the accident which came about after a 15-seater Beltship support craft "returning to port with three crew members on board" collided with the dugout canoe.
It is not immediately clear whether the 19 include six people brought to the central morgue at Connaught in Freetown. An undertaker at the morgue, Sinneh Kamara told Politico that they had buried the six after they went unclaimed.
According to the head of the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration, Alhaji Wuror Jalloh, the Saturday night incident happened after the boats collided close to the shores of the coastal town of Tagrin, outside Freetown.
He told Politico at the time that a boat belonging to African Minerals had hit and smashed the dugout canoe but was unclear as to how many people were onboard the passenger boat. Four days on, no one seems any clearer about the number of passengers.
The Tagrin Wharf Secretary said they also had no idea as that should have been with the ports authorities across the sea in Freetown.
AML is yet to issue a statement on its links, or not, with the boat that allegedly caused the accident. But a spokesman for the company, Anthony Navo told Politico at the time that the boat involved also worked for other clients.
A press release from Beltship which expresses "deepest sympathies to the families of the deceased" does not make any reference to the iron miner and declines to explain the circumstances that led to the accident.
It says that "[w]hilst the investigation is underway Beltship cannot provide any statement as to the circumstances which caused the collision between the passenger canoe and the Beltship craft" but commends "the actions of our Captain and his crew [whose] prompt actions saved many lives". It claims that "immediately after the collision...life vests and life buoys were thrown into the water to assist those who were thrown from the canoe and one of the Beltship crew members...jumped into the water to assist those who could not help themselves."
But Bangura told Politico that the ill-fated boat did have life jackets onboard.
It is not known whether government has set up any special investigation into the accident.
(C) Politico Online 01/01/14
