BBC News Online: World: Americas

Search continues after Amazon sinking

Boats are the main mode of transport in the Amazon

The vessel, which was on its way to a political rally, sank within minutes.

Latest reports say seven bodies have been recovered, and fifteen other people are known to be missing.

The dead are said to include two journalists from a group who were accompanying politicians to the rally.

The accident happened near the Amazonian town of Laranjal do Jari, about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) north of Sao Paulo.

Local people helped with rescue operations as it took the authorities several hours to get to the remote spot.

Some reports said nearly 200 people were aboard the boat, which had left the Amapa state capital Macapa the night before.

Many passengers are said to have managed to clamber aboard the ferry, which remained afloat.

The BBC's Jan Rocha in Sao Paulo says there are unconfirmed reports that the boat had been involved in an accident 20 years ago which killed several people.

Candidate saved

Most of the politicians travelling on the boat were reported to be safe.

Among those rescued was the governing Social Democratic Party's candidate for state governor, Fatima Pelaes.

She was to have launched her political campaign in Laranjal do Jari - a small riverside mining town on the Jari river.