Fishing families wait at Tombu port for boats to return with the day’s catch, outside Freetown, Sierra Leone April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Cooper Inveen/File Photo

FREETOWN, Aug 3 (Reuters) – More than a dozen people are believed to have drowned in two separate boating incidents in Sierra Leone this week, authorities said on Wednesday.

Five people died on Monday when two makeshift passenger boats collided off the southern district of Bonthe, the country’s maritime administration chief told Reuters.

Nine other people are missing from an overloaded passenger boat that capsized off the capital Freetown on Tuesday.

Fisheries Minister Emma Kowa-Jalloh told Reuters the vessel was weighed down by the crews of four fishing trawlers returning from weeks at sea.

“We have invited survivors and bereaved families to a meeting to learn about our next steps,” she said.

The Port of Freetown is not equipped to receive and unload fishing trawlers, which generally rely on smaller boats to bring their catches and crew ashore.

Authorities accuse the trawlers of ignoring safety protocols and overloading carrier vessels.

Maritime safety has improved in Sierra Leone since dozens of people died in a boat accident in 2013.

But accidents remain relatively frequent in this West African country with a long coastline and many riverside communities, especially at the height of the rainy season which extends from July to September.

Reporting by Umaru Fofana; Editing by Sofia Christensen and Bill Berkrot

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