At least 15 die in Burkina boat capsize--official

Mon Mar 30, 2009 2:41pm EDT

OUAGADOUGOU, March 30 (Reuters) - At least 15 people were killed when an overloaded boat sank in the Sourou river around 300 km (185 miles) northwest of Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou, a government official said on Monday.

Sunday's sinking was the second this month in Burkina Faso, where, as in many other West African countries, the open-topped wooden vessels known as pirogues are often dangerously overloaded with passengers and goods.

"As well as 36 people, there were sacks of food, four cows, bicycles and mopeds on board. Clearly this tragedy has been caused by overloading," said Abdoulaye Bassinga, a government official responsible for Sourou province.

In the previous accident, 16 people drowned when their pirogue capsized near Toecin, around 100 km (65 miles) north of the capital. That prompted the government to call for pirogue operators to be regulated. (Reporting by Mathieu Bonkoungou; writing by Daniel Magnowski; editing by Alistair Thomson and Tim Pearce) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: af.reuters.com/)

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