At least 21 people have died after a passenger ferry capsized in the Nile in northern Sudan, the government said on Thursday.
Sudan's Sovereign Council said it mourned the deaths of 21 people, and offered condolences to the Sudanese people.
The ferry had at least 27 people on board, including women and children, for the trip between the areas of Tiba Al Khawad and Deim Al Qaray in the city of Shendi late on Wednesday, said the Sudan Doctors Network, a medical group that tracks the country’s war.
The group said that 15 bodies have been recovered, and the residents and civil defence teams were searching for six more bodies. Six people survived the tragedy.
“This painful human tragedy once again reveals the fragility of river transport and the absence of basic safety requirements,” said the network.
The absence of local authorities and civil defence rescue teams in the first hours of the accident exacerbated the tragedy, it added.
It called on the competent authorities to swiftly send rescue teams and necessary equipment to recover those who were missing.
People use ferries and traditional boats to cross the Nile in villages and rural areas in Sudan due to the limited number of bridges. Boat accidents are not uncommon on the Nile, as passenger ferries are often old and not safe.
In 2018, at least 22 children drowned on their way to school when their boat capsized in the river.
In 2022, five Sudanese footballers on their way to play a match drowned when their boat sank north of the capital Khartoum.
