Ferry Sinks Off Cameroon Coast

A ferry carrying 150 passengers sank off the coast of Cameroon, with only 23 people rescued as emergency workers searched for more survivors Thursday, officials said.

The boat was bound for the central African nation of Gabon from a town in Nigeria near the Cameroonian border. First word of the accident came when fishermen found dead bodies floating Wednesday in Cameroonian waters off the port town of Kribi, said Gregoire Mvombo, a top official in the region.

He said rescue workers in the area had enlisted local fishermen in the search Thursday, but he said the 127 missing passengers were feared dead.

He cited survivors as saying 150 people from Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coats were onboard. It was unclear what caused the accident and Mvombo had no more details.

Many ferrymasters in Africa pack passengers aboard old or poorly maintained ships in a vast continent with poor road or rail systems. River or ocean routes are used to transport goods to market. Few ferries keep proper passenger manifests.

Some 1,863 died when the MS Joola capsized off the coast of Senegal on Sept. 26, 2002, a more deadly accident than the Titanic. Only about 60 people survived.