More than 200 South Sudanese civilians have died in a ferry accident on the White Nile river while fleeing fresh fighting in the northern city of Malakal on Sunday 14 January 2014.
Report from South Sudan said the tragedy was caused by the overloading of the ferry that could only accommodate less than 100 passengers.
The victims are said to the civilians mainly women and children fleeing the fighting between government and rebel forces in the northern town of Malakal, the capital of the oil-producing Upper Nile state. Rumors spread over the civilians that forces loyal to rebel leader and former Vice President, Riek Machar, were about to attack the city something which prompted them to leave the city.