Twelve children and teens drown in Ivory Coast boat capsize: minister
ABIDJAN: A boat overturned during a church outing for Easter on a lagoon near the city of Abidjan in Ivory Coast, killing 12 children and teenagers, a government minister told AFP Tuesday.
'Twelve bodies have been recovered and are being taken to the morgue,' said Sports Minister Adje Silas Metch, who went during the night to the site of the accident late Monday.
The bodies are 'of children and adolescents,' he added, saying one was a youngster who was not from the church but had joined the boat crossing.
'Four people were rescued,' he said.
Young people from the village of Tiaha had gone to another village to take part in the 'Galilee' event to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The outing was organized by a Methodist church in Tiaha, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the economic capital, Abidjan, Gerard Gbato, deputy chief of the Dabou police district, told AFP.
'It was on the way back that the tragedy happened. The canoe's engine stopped at one point, the canoe overturned,' he said.
It is possible the boat was overloaded, he added.
Police have opened an investigation.
Gbato said that such dugout canoes with an engine were commonly used by the local community.
The lagoon winds between the districts of Abidjan and the towns surrounding the metropolis of more than six million inhabitants.
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