Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has accepted the resignations of his transport and armed forces chiefs after the state-run ferry Joola capsized, claiming nearly 1,000 lives.

Transport Minister Youssouph Sakho and Armed Forces Minister Youba Sambou are reported to be being held responsible for the disaster, which occurred last Thursday.

Relatives have been trying to identify the dead from photographs

Only 64 survivors have been found from the estimated 1,034 people on board the overcrowded ferry, with everyone else dead or missing and presumed dead.

The army-operated vessel - licensed to carry only 550 passengers - was on a regular route to Senegal's capital Dakar from the southern province of Casamance when it overturned.

Corpses of victims have been washing ashore while a salvage effort to recover bodies from the upturned hull has been abandoned.

The government, which has accepted blame for the tragedy, is now considering whether to sink the ferry with its dead inside.

Prosecutions promised

People have been gathering at the city hall in Dakar trying to identify relatives from photographs of the dead.

A salvage operation for bodies trapped in the hull has been abandoned

But decomposition had already begun in many of the 350 bodies recovered so far, making identification difficult.

President Wade ordered an inquiry into the tragedy, preliminary results of which are expected on Wednesday.

He told broadcaster CNN: "There will be prosecutions, of course.

"Under our law, if a person by negligence provokes an accident or the death of a person, he has to be tried.

"And the people that will have any responsibility will be before the courts."

Ship tragedies

June 1904 - Steamship General Slocum sinks in New York harbour, 1,021 die April 1912 - Titanic sinks in North Atlantic, 1,523 die Empress of Ireland sinks off Canada, 1,012 die April 1980 - Philippines ferry sinks, more than 1,000 die December 1987 - Philippines ferry Dona Paz collides with tanker, 4,386 die September 1994 - Ferry Estonia sinks off Finland, 852 die September 2002 - Senegalese ferry Joola sinks, nearly 1,000 die

The army chief, Mr Sakho, told the private Sud FM radio station that he wanted to clear the way for the investigation.

"I took this decision after careful thought with the sole aim of giving the president a free hand in dealing with this matter," he said.

As well as the acknowledged overcrowding, questions have been raised about maintenance, as the Joola had only recently resumed service after undergoing repairs.

Mass burials of the victims have already started in the southern Casamance region of Senegal.

The BBC's Alpha Jallow told the Network Africa programme that 75 corpses had been interred in a mass grave, "Muslims and Christians together", because they were so disfigured by the accident and the time they had been in the sea that they could not be positively identified.

Most of those missing are Senegalese nationals, along with a number of foreigners from neighbouring Guinea-Bissau and Gambia - as well as French, Spanish and Swiss nationals.

The government declared three days of national mourning.