9 dead, dozens missing as boat sinks off Guinea: official

At least nine people died and dozens more were missing after an overcrowded wooden boat went down off the south coast of Guinea, official said.

The long thin pirogue boat had 69 passengers aboard when it left the port of Farmoriah yesterday for a weekly market further along the coast.

"It capsized at sea not far from (the market town of) Benty, leaving nine dead while 18 escaped," the national navigation agency said in a statement read on television.