13 Killed as boat sinks in Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest region

At least 13
people were killed when a riverboat sank in the Amazon rainforest region,
Brazilian authorities said Monday, as survivors described fleeing the
foundering boat in terror.

The ferry
was taking about 70 passengers up the Jari River, a tributary of the Amazon,
when it suddenly began to tip over Saturday around dawn.

Authorities said
they had rescued 46 survivors. It was not clear exactly how many more
passengers were missing. Search operations were ongoing, using helicopters,
planes and rescue divers.

The
Brazilian navy said it had opened an investigation into the accident, whose
cause was unknown.

Survivor
Vanderleia Monteiro said the boat, the Anna Karoline III, seemed to run into
trouble when another boat pulled alongside it and tried to anchor, a common
practice for the ferries that travel the Amazon and its tributaries.

The Anna
Karoline III, a two-story river ferry, set out Friday afternoon from the city
of Macapa, the capital of Amapa state in northeastern Brazil.

It was
heading for Santarem, in the neighbouring state of Para, about a 36-hour trip.
Rescue helicopters took about nine hours to arrive because the region is so
remote.