Six more people have died and 31 remain unaccounted for in the Gabon ferry disaster

Six people have now died and 31 remain missing after the ferry disaster off the coast of Gabon last Thursday.

The privately owned Esther Miracle sank in calm waters in the middle of the night while transporting 161 passengers and crew from the country’s capital Libreville to the oil town of Port-Gentil.

After dawn on Thursday, locals in dugout canoes, fishermen, an oil barge, and a navy patrol boat rescued the majority of the 124 survivors off Libreville.

Grieving family members have been waiting for news of their loved ones at the quayside of Port Môle, the capital’s commercial harbor, for four days as the search for them continues.

Some people’s grief has given way to anger as families accuse the government of failing to inform them and the emergency services of acting too late.

“The boat has not been touched, and my four children are still missing. We would at least have had accurate information about exactly what was in the boat if they had gone to look inside “Dyssia Mwanmbatsi Eve said.

Some people are still holding out for a miracle now that the ferry’s wreckage has been found, while others claim that all they want is for their loved ones’ bodies to return.

“The state in which yesterday’s bodies arrived and the bodies that had been discovered the day before was actually indescribable. Miracles can happen, so some people still have hope, but we’ve given up on finding our parents alive “Jeff Bandzandza, speaking on behalf of the missing people’s families, said.

In anticipation of the findings of an investigation into the accident’s cause, the government has suspended all overnight passenger ships until at least March 31. It has also mandated an audit of all passenger’s vessels.