Nearly 100 people died when an overcrowded makeshift ferry sank in rough seas off the coast of Mozambique.
Many of those on board were escaping a cholera outbreak that the authorities are battling to contain. The fishing boat was carrying 130 people, many of them children, between Lunga in the northern Nampula province to the Island of Mozambique.
The discovery of seven more bodies on Monday morning took the death toll to 98, officials said. Rescuers have found 11 survivors and are searching for more, but their efforts are being hampered by the rough sea conditions.
“Because the boat was overcrowded and unsuited to carry passengers, it ended up sinking,” Jaime Neto, the secretary of state for Nampula province, told the BBC.
Videos posted on social media purportedly showed rescuers carrying the bodies of children amid other victims strewn on a beach.
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The alarm was raised on Sunday when a tidal wave capsized the fishing boat that was not licensed to carry passengers as it headed to the small coral islet that gave its name to the former Portuguese colony.
Silverio Nauaito, the administrator of the island of Mozambique, said the vessel had capacity for 100 people but many more were on board to escape the cholera threat.
“People get symptoms, three minutes later they are already dying. Therefore, they went looking for this vessel to see if it could carry people to the Island of Mozambique,” Nauaito told the local STV television channel.
The southern African country, one of the world’s poorest, has recorded almost 15,000 cases of cholera and 32 deaths since October.
Nampula is the worst affected region, accounting for about a third of all cases. Mozambique, which has a population of about 32 million, has a poor road network. Many areas of the country are only accessible by boats, which are often overcrowded.
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Cholera is a diarrhoeal illness that spreads in places without access to clean water and sanitation, where people swallow food or water contaminated with Vibrio cholerae bacteria.
The World Health Organisation said that although poverty and conflict remained drivers for cholera around the world, climate change was aggravating a sharp global increase of the outbreak that began in 2021. Many of the outbreaks have been compounded by tropical cyclones and the ensuing displacements of people. Mozambique’s neighbours Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe have all been affected.
