Five Sudanese footballers drown as Nile ferry capsizes

Five footballers have drowned in Sudan’s River Nile state, after a boat carrying a football team from Shendi, across the river to play a fixture in El Matamma capsized and sank in the Nile on Sunday.

The entire El Malaha (The Navigation) team, which competes in the third division, boarded the boat to carry them to El Matamma on the western bank of the river, where they were due to play a match against El Jiref the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reports.

Radio Dabanga has learned that Wagee Allah Abdelgayoum, El Mahdi Hasan El Awni, Amer Mohamed Saeed, Ammar Mohamed Saeed, Mohamed Fadul El Sayed, were the players who drowned.

Ferries are the default way for the public to travel across the Nile, however many of the boats are old and in a poor state of repair. Coupled by fluctuating seasonal river levels and unpredictable water conditions, this results in frequent and often deadly accidents.