Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Amazon boat accident

News is filtering through of a nasty accident on the Peru stretch of the Amazon, close to the border with Colombia. A boat carrying around 150 people is reported sunk, going down at 2:15am local time this morning and most of the passengers are currently listed as missing. Two dead have been confirmed to now. There are reports of the sound of banging coming from inside the sunken craft, presumably from people trapped inside. No news yet on how many people managed to swim to the river bank but may still be officially missing.

UPDATE: Reports are still patchy, with unofficial word coming through that at least 80 people who were asleep on the boat when it went down are now safe, but there are still more than 100 unaccounted for and there's also talk of around 40 people trapped inside the sunken craft. Also (surprise surprise), the boat that is licensed to carry up to 170 people was probably carrying more than 250. That snippet will not come as a shock to anyone that has travelled The Amazon.