Our Barra sources are working hard to identify some of the victims of yesterday’s ‘Backway’ boat disaster, claiming lives of at least 52 Gambians including youths, men, women, and children. Ya Jojo Bojang, a young lady from Barra, North Bank Region also died in the catastrophe.

Our sources say the late Ya Jojo joined five other friends, all of them girls in a boat that was old, but painted to look new. Her mother, our sources say sells at the Barra Ferry Terminal. The owners of the boat are reported to be at large as updates flow in.

Reports from Barra paint a mournful milieu. “In my street alone, about seven youths all lost their lives,” lamented one Modou Joof, a native of Barra. We will continue to monitor latest developments in this year’s most tragic news for the infamous ‘Backway’ to Europe.