At least 51 people are missing and one is confirmed dead after an attack on a passenger boat in South Sudan’s Lakes state, a local official said Wednesday.
The boat was traveling from Bor in Jonglei state to Panyijiar County in Unity state when it was ambushed by gunmen Sunday morning in an area of Yirol East County in Lakes state, according to Gabriel Majok Bol. Majok said he received a passenger list from people in Bor.
Majok told Radio Tamazuj that 53 people were on the boat. One person was found dead in the river, and one survivor sustained gunshot wounds. The remaining 51 passengers are still missing, and their fate is unknown, he said.
“We have had no information since yesterday,” Majok said, blaming the attack on armed elements from Yirol East County. He called it the second such incident in two weeks, following the reported kidnapping of eight people in the same area.
According to Majok, the passenger list showed those missing include 46 men, two women and three young girls.
The latest attack drew condemnation from civil society groups.
Zachariah Manyang Puok, a member of a children’s charity in Unity state, called the assault “unlawful” and criticized authorities for failing to rein in armed youth.
“It is a very big problem for authority when criminals kill people and are not arrested,” Manyang said. “Others will continue with such activities.”
However, the commissioner of Yirol East County, Manyang Luk, denied any knowledge of the incident.
“I will not say anything because there is no incident that occurred in Yirol on Sunday,” Luk told Radio Tamazuj. He pointed out that the incident might have occurred on the Nile River, which forms the border between Yirol East and Jonglei states, but confirmed that no official report had reached his office.
This is not the first attack reported targeting Panyijiar boat passengers.
In early September, eight traders from Panyijiar County who were kidnapped by armed groups in Yirol East County were freed and handed over to the Panyijiar community.