At least 21 people have died after a passenger ferry sank on the River Nile in Sudan’s northern River Nile State. The Sudanese Sovereignty Council confirmed the deaths on Wednesday, saying women and children were among the victims.
Police Major General Qurashi Hussein, assistant director general of civil defence, said the wooden ferry was carrying between 30 and 35 passengers when it went down on Wednesday evening. It was travelling between the villages of Tayba al-Khawad and Deim al-Qarai.
Six or seven people have been rescued, and about a dozen others are believed to be missing. Civil defence teams, including units deployed from the capital, Khartoum, are continuing search operations.
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The Sudan Doctors Network said the incident highlighted safety concerns over river transport. Ferry accidents are not uncommon in the region. In 2018, at least 23 people, most of them children, drowned when a boat sank while taking pupils to school.
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