When news spread that the vessel had capsized on the night of September 26, 2002, no one in the southern city could believe it.
A total of 1,863 people drowned or were lost — surpassing the Titanic toll of more than 1,500 some 90 years earlier.
Le Joola sailed into a storm off the coast of The Gambia on the way from Ziguinchor to the capital Dakar.
The ferry played a major role in the town in the isolated Casamance enclave, providing a lifeline to Dakar and transporting agricultural produce as well as tourists.
