MV Le Joola

2002

The Gambia, overloaded for Senegal, nearly two thousand Location: Atlantic Ocean, off The Gambia, West Africa · Coordinates: 13.85°N 16.40°W · Casualties: ~1,863 · Survivors: 64 · Depth: 22 m · Cause: capsized · overloading — Capsized in a squall off The Gambia at 23:00 on 26 September 2002 while sailing from Ziguinchor in the Casamance to Dakar. She was licensed for 580 passengers and was carrying more than 1,900. The rescue effort was delayed overnight. · Fate: protected war grave · diveable · Type: passenger ferry · Senegalese state · Tonnage: 2,087 tons · Crew: 47 · Flag: Senegal · Launched: 1990 Senegalese state passenger ferry, Ziguinchor in the Casamance to Dakar. Capsized in a squall off The Gambia at 23:00 on 26 September 2002 while carrying more than three times her licensed capacity. 1,863 dead of around 1,927 aboard: the second-deadliest peacetime civilian maritime disaster in history after the Doña Paz. The fact that the passenger manifest was incomplete means no authoritative toll will ever exist. The Vessel The MV Le Joola was a Senegalese government-operated passenger-cargo ferry, built at the Germersheim yard of the German Germersheim Shipyards on the River Rhine between 1989 and 1990 and commissioned on 26 April 1990. She was 79 metres long, 2,087 gross tons, and powered by twin diesel engines producing approximately 2,000 horsepower. Her design was a combined passenger-cargo ferry intended for the Senegalese coastal and river ferry service. Her accommodation was approximately 550 passengers plus approximately 70 vehicles in her lower deck vehicle bay and a crew of approximately 40. The specific design configuration was a two-level passenger vessel with an enclosed lower deck vehicle bay and an upper passenger deck; the configuration was intended for the specific conditions of the Senegalese coastal ferry service. Her specific operational role was the Senegalese government's ferry service between Dakar (the national capital, on the Atlantic coast) and Ziguinchor (the regional capital of the Casamance region, in southern Senegal). The specific route connected the separate Casamance region (isolated from the rest of Senegal by the surrounding Gambia) with Dakar, providing essential passenger and freight connections. By September 2002, the Joola had been operating on the Casamance ferry service for 12 years. The specific maintenance and operational condition of the ship had been the subject of several specific concerns; the specific operational budgets of the Senegalese governme The Disaster At approximately 22:45 on 26 September 2002, MV Le Joola capsized suddenly in approximately 20 metres of water off the Gambia coast. The specific capsize was extraordinarily rapid: the ship rolled completely inverted within approximately 5 minutes of the initial loss of stability. The specific evacuation was almost entirely unsuccessful. The specific factors that prevented evacuation included: (i) the extreme rapidity of the capsize; (ii) the substantial overloading that had crowded every available upper-deck space; (iii) the specific below-deck accommodation of approximately 1,000 passengers; (iv) the specific absence of effective emergency warning systems; (v) the specific inadequate lifeboat and life-raft provision; (vi) the specific remote location that delayed rescue-response for many hours. The specific Senegalese government rescue response was substantially delayed. The specific distress signals from Le Joola reached the Senegalese maritime authorities at approximately 23:00 on 26 September 2002, approximately 15 minutes after the capsize. However, the specific response delay was substantial: the first Senegalese Navy vessel reached the capsize site at approximately 11:00 on 27 September 2002, approximately 12 hours after the capsize. The specific delayed rescue response substantially compromised the survival rate among those who had initially survived the capsize. Many of those who had reached the surface of the water died of exposure, exhaustion, or dehydration durin