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What happened, where and when?
On 20 July 2024, the National President of Equatorial Guinea Red Cross was alerted by government authorities from Bata on a shipwreck that occurred early morning of 20 July 2024, before dawn. The shipwreck is said to have occurred at the Rio Campo Cribi sea border between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. It is difficult currently to indicate the origin of the boat. The rescued passengers indicate that they were travelling to Gabon, and that the boat’s captain immediately escaped upon seeing the coast of Equatorial Guinea, abandoning the passengers to their fate. This resulted into the shipwreck. According to the passengers, the boat had been travelling since 1st July 2024, and the passengers seem to have been promised jobs in Gabon.
Scope and Scale
The boat was carrying 90 people, including 47 women from different nationalities (30 from Benin and 17 from Togo), as well as 43 men also from different nationalities (10 from Togo, 16 from Benin, 8 Burkina Faso nationals, 2 Niger nationals, and 6 Nigerians. 1 died, and his nationality has not been clarified yet).
One of the passengers died because of the shipwreck, and 89 were rescued. These 89 are wounded, some with fracture. The host National Society provided first aid services to the wounded as soon as they were alerted by government authorities (the Gendarmerie Nacional). A rapid assessment conducted by the Equatorial Guinea Red Cros (EGRC) indicate that the 89 rescued passengers are in a small room at the Gendarmerie in Bata, a room that normally can contain up to 4 people. They have nowhere to go as none of them is from Equatorial Guinea. They arrived with no items, assets and missing bare minimum for dignity and life. They urgently need water, food, clothes, sleeping matts, mosquito nets, pillows, buckets, jerrycans and cups for drinking water. The National Society also needs first aid kits to replenish their stock and to continue providing first-aid services to the affected people rescued from the shipwreck. Majority of the affected people are women (47 out of 89), and some are children, all packed in a small room at the Gendarmerie Nacional.
These people are currently in a room of the gendarmerie. For now, they are not authorized to move out of the designated structure for safety (standard precautions) but the red cross is allowed in with assistance. Information received on 26th from authorities indicate that these people will be moved soon to one of the COVID management structure which is a bigger place and remain a government structure. With likely the same movement restrictions. This is not yet done and will be followed-up in coming days.