Three senior military officers and three lower-ranking military were sanctioned in connection with Senegal's 2002 Joola ferry disaster, one of maritime history's worst accidents that left close to 2,000 dead, Armed Forces Minister Becaye Diop said Tuesday.Senegal's joint chief of staff, Major General Babacar Gaye, was removed from office on August 12 and replaced by Major General Pape Khalilou Fall under a decree issued by Diop and President Abdoulaye Wade as supreme commander of the west African country's armed forces, a statement from the minister said.
It said Gaye was relieved of his post for "the slow pace of rescue operations and poor evaluation of the situation", adding that Gaye was "placed in a new position" as he "he had served his normal command time."
The chiefs of staff of the navy and air force, Captain Ousseynou Kombo and Colonel Meissa Tamba, were also dismissed and placed under arrest for 60 days, according to the statement.
Lower down the ranks, the officers in command of the ports of Zinguinchor, where the Joola started its fatal voyage, and Karabane, where it called en route to Dakar, as well as the radio operator on duty the night of the sinking will be brought before an investigation committee with a view to dismiss them from army ranks.
The statement said disciplinary proceedings against the military personnel resumed after Dakar's public proseuctor ruled on August 9 that the Joola tragedy was the sole fault of the ship's captain, who perished in the accident, in what put an end to the criminal case.
A ferry with a capacity of 550 passengers, the Joola capsized because of overcrowding and sank in heavy seas off the coast of the Gambia late on 26 September 2002.
Rescue operations only started the next day, leaving 1,863 dead and only 64 survivors.
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