Overcrowding contributed to African ferry disaster

DAKAR, Senegal -- With the presumed death toll from a ferry sinking nearing 1,000, Senegal's president has conceded that overcrowding helped cause of one of Africa's deadliest ferry disasters and a German newspaper reported the vessel held twice as many people as it was designed for.

Television footage showed the state-run MS Joola listing sickeningly to one side as it cleared port Thursday for its final, fatal voyage.

The death toll Monday stood at 970 but could go much higher -- with authorities saying all children under 5 would have gone unticketed, and thus apparently uncounted.

The boat capsized in stormy seas quickly and only 64 people are known to have survived among an official count of 1,034 passengers and crew. Those who escaped the overturned ferry hung onto its exposed hull for hours.

About 150 military personnel, fishermen and rescue divers from Senegal, neighboring Gambia and former colonial power France were taking part in the recovery. Gambian and Senegalese authorities said they had retrieved more than 360 bodies, before decomposition made recovery of intact victims impossible.

Germany's Hamburger Abendblatt reported Monday that a German shipyard built the ship 12 years ago for voyages on the placid Rhine River, and designed it for no more than 536 passengers.