At least 9 dead, 13 missing in Amazon River shipwreck

Feb 21, 2008, 19:22 GMT

Rio de Janeiro - At least nine people died and 13 others were missing Thursday after a ship carrying more than 100 people capsized in the Amazon River in northern Brazil.

Four children and four women were among the dead, while 92 people were said to have been rescued, according to the area Fire Department.

The Almirante Monteiro went down early Thursday near the town of Itacoatiara, some 270 kilometres from the Amazonas state capital Manaus, after crashing with a ferry.

Colonel Antonio Dias, commander of the Manaus Ports Captaincy, said that 92 occupants of the ship were rescued by a police boat.

'Fortunately, a civilian police boat was passing by the area and managed to pull most of the victims out of the water. I think that, if it had not been for that, there would have been a catastrophe,' the military officer said.

Dias said the Almirante Monteiro, which has a capacity of 165 passengers, had left the town of Alenquer, in the state of Para, with 70 passengers and a crew of 12 late Wednesday and was headed for Manaus.

Along the way, many more passengers embarked, and the authorities estimate it was carrying at least 110 people when it capsized.

Ten Navy divers and a further 13 members of the Fire Department were involved in rescue efforts, supported by a boat, a speedboat and a helicopter.

The cause of the accident was being investigated by the Ports authority in Manaus.