March 19, 1999
Web posted at: 6:28 p.m. EDT (1828 GMT)

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (CNN) -- Around 70 people drowned when an overcrowded ship sank in a storm off the coast of Sierra Leone, survivors and maritime officials said Friday.

Three survivors said the boat, a dugout vessel with an outboard engine, had left Tombo on the southern shore of the Freetown peninsula carrying gasoline, kerosene and rice Wednesday when it ran into rough seas.

"I believe our boat would have resisted the storm, but because the boat was overloaded, it capsized and sank," crew member Alimamy Sumba said.

The disaster is the latest in a series of shipping accidents in the area this year. At least 100 died when another supply vessel sank near Freetown earlier this month.

"Unless drastic measures are taken by the government against local boat crews, these sea disasters will not come to a halt," said Patrick Kemokai, general manager of the Sierra Leone Port Authority.

The government banned internal shipping in January during a rebel attack on Freetown. The ban has not been lifted but is widely ignored by traders profiting from the rebels' closure of the main highway into Freetown.

The traders take supplies from Freetown around the coast and up rivers to inland towns, then bring palm oil from the interior to the capital.

Kemokai also said three ships from Europe had docked in Freetown on Thursday, the first commercial vessels to arrive since the January fighting, in which port facilities were badly damaged. Among their cargoes were 5,000 tons of flour and other food.

Another cargo ship chartered by the World Food Program is expected in Freetown on Friday with 1,100 tons of food aid, including 600 tons of rice donated by Italy.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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