(Maputo) Searches continued off the coast of Mozambique on Monday after the death of at least 96 people in the sinking of an overloaded fishing boat, to which many panicked families had rushed after rumors of a cholera epidemic .
“Five more (bodies) have been found in the last few hours, so we are talking about 96 dead,” Silverio Nauaito, administrator of the small island off the northern province of Nampula, told AFP on Monday morning. the drama is produced. A previous report on Sunday reported at least 91 deaths.
The fishing boat was carrying some 130 people, including many children, when it sank early Sunday evening. Eleven survivors have been counted but the number of people still sought remains unknown.
“The number of missing remains uncertain, because we initially knew that there were 130 people on board the boat, […] This is data that we must measure with precision,” said Mr. Nauaito, indicating that certain bodies have already been claimed.
“The last bodies identified are those of three children,” said the administrator of the island of Mozambique, which gave its name to the country, and towards which the boat was heading.
Images circulating on social media appear to show dozens of bodies covered in blankets lying on a beach.
“The boat sank because it was overloaded and unsuitable for transporting passengers,” Jaime Neto, secretary of state for Nampula province, explained on Sunday evening.
Most of the passengers were trying to flee the mainland due to false information about an ongoing cholera epidemic, which sowed panic, Neto said, without elaborating.
Cholera and jihadism
Mozambique, one of the poorest countries in the world, has recorded nearly 15,000 cases of this disease transmitted by dirty water, and 32 people have died since October, according to official figures.
Nampula province is the most affected region, concentrating a third of cases. In recent months, it has also welcomed many displaced people fleeing a series of jihadist attacks in the neighboring province of Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country.
An investigation was opened to determine the causes of the sinking, said the Secretary of State, adding that several of the survivors had been hospitalized.
The Island of Mozambique, which served as the capital at the time of Portuguese colonization, is a former trading post on the route to India. The country, which has a coastline of some 2,500 km on the Indian Ocean, has been independent since 1975.
This island, which is home to a fortified town just four km from the mainland, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The country, which has more than 30 million inhabitants, is regularly hit by destructive cyclones.
With almost two thirds of the population living below the poverty line, Mozambique has placed high hopes on the vast natural gas deposits discovered in Cabo Delgado in 2010.
But a guerrilla war led since 2017 by armed jihadists linked to the Islamic State group has put a stop to this exploitation. More than 5,000 people have been killed and nearly a million have had to flee their homes since the start of this conflict.
The oil group TotalEnergies, which was then called Total, suspended a vast project in March 2021 after a large-scale jihadist attack, which caused victims – the toll remains uncertain – among the local population and among its subcontractors.