The Boat initially departed from Oron near Calabar and the Boat sunk at 15 minutes away from destination of Gabon Capital city Killing 10 Nigerians who embarked on the Journey as Illegal Immigrants, a very well known Dangerous Journey which has occurred before in 2008 . – 23 bodies are still Missing
The boat was within 15 minutes of arriving in Gabon’s capital Libreville when it went down late on Tuesday night. Gabonese authorities rescued 23 people and the search continued into yesterday.
“Last night, we had six bodies and since this morning we have found four more, which makes a total of 10 recovered bodies,” said a member of the Nautical Brigade of Gabon’s national police who asked not to be named.
Police said the survivors – from Benin, Nigeria and Burkina Faso-claimed to have each paid the boat’s crew up to 500,000 CFA to take them to Gabon where they hoped to find work.
Local newspapers reported that the human traffickers attempted to extort more money from the immigrants and had begun throwing those who could not pay overboard.
Gabonese authorities said they were investigating the cause of the sinking.
Oil-rich Gabon’s relatively high wages for manual labourers have made the central African nation a popular destination for regional migrants.
But entrance requirements are strict, pushing many to enter the country illegally, often using the dangerous sea route from Nigeria.
At least 45 people died when a wooden boat carrying 166 migrants bound for Gabon capsized off Nigeria in March.
Some 35 people taking the same route died after their boat sank off Cameroon in 2008.
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