MORE THAN 200 MISSING AFTER BOAT CAPSIZES IN SIERRA LEONE

SIERRA LEONE ENDS BOAT RESCUE SURVIVORS OF
SHIPWRECK, MANY SCHOOLCHILDREN STILL MISSING

FREETOWN (Reuters) - Authorities in Sierra Leone are shutting down an operation to rescue survivors of a shipwreck that has killed 90 and left well over 100 missing, presumed dead, a police officer said on Friday. The boat, which officials believe was heavily loaded with goods and at least 250 people, capsized in a storm on Tuesday, sparking calls for better safety after just 40 of the passengers appear to have survived the accident. "We are no longer actively engaged in the rescue exercise as we now believe that the rest of the passengers onboard the boat have drowned," said Lt Mohamed Suma, head of the search operation.

He added that 90 bodies had been buried, 30 of which had to be put in mass grave as they were unrecognisable, and that now they are doing a search party to see how many of the remaining corpses they can get out of the sea. The exact number of passengers on the boat, which was travelling between two coastal villages, is not known as the captain picked up additional passengers onboard. Boat, car and rail accidents are frequent in West Africa, a poor region that has weak infrastructure, and overloading is often to blame. Police said that overloading caused the accident and that the boat was designed to hold 60 people and they didn't carry lifejackets and the boat didn't have the necessary communications devices.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Being subjected to samsāra, the cycle of birth and death, does not guarantee that one will necessarily get a similar facility for understanding Bhagavad-gītā in the next life. One may not necessarily be born again as a human being, or in America, or in India, or even on this planet. There is no certainty; it all depends on our work. On the path of birth and death we take our birth, remain for some time, enjoy or suffer, then again give up this body and enter into the womb of a mother, either human being or animal, then prepare another body to come out and begin our work again. This is called mrtyu-samsāra-vartmani. If one wants to avoid this path, he must take to Krishna consciousness

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"Raja-Vidya: The King of Knowledge - Knowledge Beyond Samsara"