36 dead, dozens missing after Mali boat sinking

Mahmoudou Ibrahim combed the waters frantically for his family after they and hundreds of other passengers were catapulted into the Niger River when their boat capsized.
Amid the cries for help in the darkness of night, he listened in vain for the sound of their voices.
This morning, crews pulled the bloated bodies of three of his children from the river: 1-year-old Ahmadou, 3-year-old Salamata and 4-year-old Fatouma.
There is still no sign of his wife, Zeinabou, or their 5-year-old twin girls, who were last seen curled up on mats aboard the ship.
"The pain that I feel today is beyond excruciating," he said from the village cemetery where he buried the remains of his three children Sunday in the sandy dirt.

By late afternoon, a total of 36 corpses had been recovered from the river since the accident Friday night.

Passengers on the capsized boat said they believed hundreds of people were on the overladen vessel when it sank Friday. But the ship's owner did not have a full list of who was on board, making it impossible to determine the actual number of people missing.
The boat was headed from the central port of Mopti to the northern desert town of Timbuktu, packed full of people travelling ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha this week.
Many Malians choose to travel by river even though the journey takes several days and nights because it is easier than traversing the region's poor desert roads.

The accident took place near the village of Koubi, about four miles (seven kilometres) from Konna. Authorities said 210 survivors had been registered, leaving dozens missing.
The boat disaster comes as Mali has been gripped by more than a year of crisis, starting with a rebellion in early 2012 and a subsequent coup, followed by the seizure of the country's vast north by Tuareg separatists and Islamic extremists.
The French army intervened in January, pushing the militants out of the cities, but violent attacks still take place.
Survivors of the Friday boat sinking described a chaotic scene, as scores of people awakened by the jolt of the boat's collapse tried to make their way to shore.