Le Joola

**Le Joola**
	The Le Joola
Ship data
flag	Senegal
other ship names	Sangomar;
Ship type	Combined passenger, car and cargo ferry
home port	Dakar
Owner	Ministère de l'Equipement, Senegal
Shipyard	New Germersheim shipyard, Germersheim
Build number	847
Keel laying	October 1989
Commissioning	1990
Whereabouts	Sank off the coast of Gambia on September 26, 2002
Ship dimensions and crew
length	79.50 m ( Lüa )
width	12.50 m
Side height	4.10 m
Draft	Max. 3.10 m
measurement	1,500 GT ; 2,087 GT
Machine system
machine	2 × diesel engine (MAN 12V20 / 27)
Machine ; performance	2,400 kW (3,263 hp)
Top ; speed	14.0 kn (26 km / h)
propeller	2
Transport capacities
Load capacity	500 tdw
Permitted number of passengers	536
Vehicle capacity	35 cars

The Le Joola was a Senegalese passenger ferry that was used as a RoPax ship in freight and passenger traffic between the city of Ziguinchor in Casamance and the Senegalese capital Dakar . Its sinking on September 26, 2002 is considered the third largest civil shipping disaster after the Second World War . Since March 2008 the Aline Sitoe Diatta has been in service as a ferry instead of the Le Joola .

history

The 2,087 GT ship was built in 1989/90 at the Neue Germersheim shipyard in Germersheim am Rhein . In 1990 the ship was put into service as the Sangomar and later renamed Le Joola . The name is derived from the Joola (also " Diola ") ethnic group, who mainly live in the Casamance . It was intended for coastal shipping up to 50 nautical miles from the coast, 79.5 meters long, 12.5 meters wide and designed for 550 passengers , thirteen vehicles and 250 tons of cargo .

Average

Route of the ship, the cross marks the place of sinking

On September 26, 2002, at around 11 a.m., the ferry got caught in a storm off the coast of Gambia and capsized in less than five minutes. It drifted keel up on the water surface for over 20 hours before sinking. At the time of the accident, there were many students from the Casamance on board who wanted to go to Dakar at the beginning of the semester. Her death has had a noticeable impact on the further development of her region of origin to this day. The downfall led to a political crisis in Senegal and the dismissal of the government by President Abdoulaye Wade . It was not until three years later, on November 11, 2005, that a regular ship connection between Dakar and Casamance was reopened with the Willis .

According to a report by the French experts on the causes, in addition to the grossly negligent overloading and the severe storm, it was also emphasized that the Le Joola was on a route in the high seas for which it was not built. The manufacturer, the Deutsche Schiffswerft Germersheim GmbH, is not blamed: The Le Joola was launched in 1990 and met the safety standards of the time. As the main reason for the disaster, the experts cite the poor maintenance of the ship by the owner - the Senegalese state.

According to official information, 1,863 people died when the Le Joola went down. There were 64 survivors. Only the collision of the Filipino ferry Doña Paz with the tanker Vector on December 20, 1987 with a total of 4,386 fatalities and the sinking of the Kiang Ya with 3,520 casualties resulted in higher numbers of casualties in civilian marine casualties .

On September 12, 2008, the French judge Jean-Noël Wilfrid issued international arrest warrants for nine senior Senegalese officials, including former Prime Minister Mame Madior Boye , the ex-minister of the armed forces, the ex-minister of transport, and senior military and naval officials alleged joint responsibility for the sinking of the ferry.

Place des naufragés du bateau le JOOLA, September 22nd, 2002

Commemoration

In Bassori, Gambia, an official burial site has been set up for the victims of the sinking of the ferry. Ten years after the disaster, memorial services were held with the participation of members of the government, both in the cemetery of the castaways (cimetière de naufragés) of Mbao on the eastern outskirts of Dakar and in Kantène, a cemetery for the castaway on the southern outskirts of Ziguinchor.

literature

Peer Schmidt-Walther: Ferry for Dakar from Germersheim , Schiffahrt international 8/90, Schiffahrts-Verlag Hansa , Hamburg, p. 321–322.
Peer Schmidt-Walther: From Germersheim to Ziguinchor , Kehrwieder: Magazine for Deutsche Seeschiffahrt 10/90, Association of German Shipowners , Hamburg, pp. 17-18.
Hans-Jürgen Walzer: Inland shipping yards - specialists for special ships and service points for inland shipping . In: Heide Ringhand: The inland shipping . Flowing streets - living rivers . Published in cooperation with the Bundesverband der Deutschen Binnenschiffahrt e. V. BeRing Verlag, Velbert-Neviges 1992, ISBN 3-925636-16-1 , p. 157.