At least 11 people have died and eight are missing after a boat capsized Thursday morning near the mouth of the Amazon River in northern Brazil, according to official sources.
The Pará State Public Security Secretariat said in a statement that 63 people had been rescued alive and that nine of the dead were women.
In a previous statement, the secretariat had said that 14 people had died in the sinking of the boat, which had the capacity to carry up to 82 people.
The boat, which did not have a license to transport passengers, was traveling between a clandestine port in the city of Camará, in the Marajó archipelago, and the regional capital, Belém.
The Brazilian navy and the Pará state police have already opened an investigation.
According to the Fire Department, quoted by the Brazilian news portal G1, the incident occurred near Saudade beach, on the island of Cotijuba, around 9:30 a.m. this Thursday (another four hours in Lisbon).
The possible cause of the sinking was not disclosed.
The searches involved a helicopter and 11 rescue boats.
According to reports from residents, the bodies of people who had drowned washed up on one of the island’s beaches, and locals also pulled them out of the water.
The Secretary of Health of Belém (Sesma) provides assistance to those rescued.
“The Mobile Emergency Care Service (Samu) is in the area, through the ‘ambulancha’ and ambulances, helping to rescue the victims of the accident,” he said in a note, quoted by G1.
Videos circulating on social media show reports from some rescued people saying the boat sank completely with people inside.
“The propeller stopped in the middle of the bay. [do Marajó] and the captain warned no one to despair, but the boat started sinking out of nowhere and people started jumping out of the boat. There were a lot of older people and children on the boat,” reported one of the passengers.
Source: TSF
