Dakar, Senegal
Nearly 1,000 people, including scores of children, drowned off the coast of Senegal last week when a dangerously overloaded ocean ferry capsized in a storm. Fishermen and rescue teams could save only 64 people. “When I dove in, I saw bodies everywhere,” rescue worker Haidar el Ali said. “We saw bodies floating by the hundreds, the hundreds, the hundreds.” Designed to carry around 600 passengers and crew, the state-run ferry had far too many people aboard and was already listing to one side as it left southern Senegal bound for Dakar. Still more passengers caught up with the ship in canoes and climbed aboard as it headed out to sea. President Abdoulaye Wade vowed to prosecute those responsible for overbooking the ferry.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How climate change is affecting ChristmasThe Explainer There may be a slim chance of future white Christmases
-
The MAGA civil war takes center stage at the Turning Point USA conferenceIN THE SPOTLIGHT ‘Americafest 2025’ was a who’s who of right-wing heavyweights eager to settle scores and lay claim to the future of MAGA
-
The 8 best drama movies of 2025the week recommends Nuclear war, dictatorship and the summer of 2020 highlight the most important and memorable films of 2025
