Madagascar: at least 22 dead after the sinking of a clandestine boat
The shipwreck took place in the northwest of Madagascar (illustration image).
AFP - ROBERTO SCHMIDT
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The tragedy occurred off the northwest coast of the island, between Nosy Faly and Ambilobe.
23 people were found alive, indicates the gendarmerie.
The exact number of passengers is not yet known, she said.
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With our correspondent in Antananarivo,
Laetitia Bezain
Search operations continue to find any survivors or victims of the sinking, said the Port, Maritime and River Agency.
The boat was heading for Mayotte, according to the testimonies collected by the gendarmerie, but the investigation is still in progress, she underlines.
It is around 10 p.m. when fishermen hear calls for help about 20 km off the hamlet of Ankazomborona.
“
They rescued the castaways they could.
But they only had a canoe
,”
indicates the Ambilobe gendarmerie.
The makeshift boat has not been found.
“
They did not leave from a port, but embarked people one by one along the coast.
It was, according to the fishermen, a wooden motor boat.
We're still investigating, but it's possible the engine exploded because there were burn marks on some of the victims.
The boat was also surely overloaded since it left clandestinely.
There could not have been any control over the number of passengers
, ”says a source within the gendarmerie.
In February, a boat carrying 33 Malagasy people was intercepted off the coast of Mayotte by a Mahoran gendarmerie boat.
►Also read: In Madagascar, the challenge of managing internal migration in Antananarivo
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