150 Missing After Ferry Hits Tanker on River in Peru
A ferry carrying 400 people crashed into a moored oil tanker and overturned on a tributary of the Amazon River before dawn Monday. About 150 people are missing, a spokesman for the state oil company said.
Another 250 passengers on board the ferry Chachita were rescued, said Jorge Merino, spokesman for the state oil company Petroperu.
He said rescuers could hear people trapped inside the overturned boat hammering at the hull.
The accident occurred on an isolated stretch of the Maranon River, a tributary of the Amazon. The accident site was near San Jose de Saramuro, a port 530 miles northeast of Lima, the capital.
The ferry was carrying passengers from the jungle town of Yurimaguas to Iquitos, Merino said. He said the ferry was drifting just before the crash because of motor failure.
Survivors swam to the riverbanks or were rescued by Petroperu workers, Merino said.
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