MV Le Joola

MV Le Joola was a Senegalese government-owned roll-on/roll-off ferry that capsized off the coast of The Gambia on 26 September 2002, with 1,863 deaths and 64 survivors. The majority of passengers were Senegalese, including 854 to 923 Senegalese-French nationals on board. It is thought to be the third-worst peacetime disaster in maritime history, and the worst in the 21st century. The ship was plying the route from Ziguinchor in the Casamance region to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, when it ran into a violent storm, farther out to sea than it was licensed to travel. The estimated 2,000 passengers aboard (about half of whom lacked tickets) would have amounted to nearly four times the ship's design load. The large numbers sleeping on-deck (and thus above its center of buoyancy) added further instability. Rescue operations did not start for several hours. A government inquiry principally blamed negligence, and accusations were directed at both the Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade and premier Mame Madior Boye.