DATE=9/30/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=SENEGAL FERRY (S-O)

NUMBER=2-294668

BYLINE=LUIS RAMIREZ

DATELINE=ABIDJAN

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Officials in Senegal about one-thousand people were killed in last week's ferry disaster. V-O-A's Luis Ramirez reports from our West Africa bureau in Abidjan.

TEXT: Containers with the bodies of hundreds of victims were stacked near the dock in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, as passengers' relatives pored over lists to confirm the fate of their loved ones.

Crews continued to retrieve bodies from the overturned Joola, which government officials say was carrying more than one-thousand people when it capsized in bad weather off the coast of Gambia.

Officials earlier said ferry was carrying 796 people, but revised the figure Sunday. A spokesman for the Senegalese prime minister's office said the revision was made after officials determined that more passengers had boarded the vessel at a second stop.

The government of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has promised a speedy investigation. On Saturday, Mr. Wade said he believed the government bore responsibility for the disaster. (SIGNED)

NEB/LR/KL/RAE