Death toll in Djibouti sinking reaches 113

DJIBOUTI, Apr 8 (Reuters) Rescuers in Djibouti found 41 more bodies today from an overloaded boat that sank two days ago, bringing the death toll to 113 in one of the Red Sea nation's worst disasters, officials said.

The bodies were pulled out of the water near the port in Djibouti, where the wooden boat capsized on Thursday carrying some 250 people to an annual religious pilgrimage.

"We got these bodies because the water is calm," said Colonel Zachariah Ahmed Sheikh, a Djiboutian army officer in charge of the rescue. Hospital officials confirmed the new toll.

Djiboutian rescuers, with divers and equipment from the American and French military and a helicopter, found the bodies after resuming the search when dawn broke.

All day long, rescuers plucked more corpses from the water and the search continued even when rain -- a relatively rare occurrence in Djibouti -- fell in the afternoon.

The victims died within 100 metres of the dock the boat sailed from as it was steaming to the town of Tadjoura, 35 km northeast. It had three times the number of passengers it was built for crammed aboard.

UNI YA RK2100