“Five more (bodies) were found in the last hours. So we are talking about 96 dead,” said Silverio Navaito, the governor of the small island off the southern province of Nabula, where the tragedy occurred.
The vessel was an overloaded fishing vessel that had been converted into a ferry and was not licensed to carry passengers, explained Lorenzo Machado of the Maritime Transport Institute of Mozambique (INTRASNAR).
As he explained, the ship, which had many children on board, was transporting people from the town of Lunga to the island of Mozambique when, according to initial information, it was hit by a tidal wave.
Nabula provincial official Jamie Neto explained that many families had rushed to board the ship after rumors of a cholera outbreak.
Rescue crews continued today to search for any survivors. Eleven people have been found alive since morning, but the number of missing remains unknown.
“The last bodies identified are those of three children,” Neto explained.
“The ship sank because it was overcrowded and unsuitable for carrying passengers,” he noted yesterday.
Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest countries, has seen nearly 15,000 cases of cholera, a disease spread through dirty water, and 32 people have died since October, according to government figures.
Nabula province has been hardest hit by the outbreak, accounting for a third of the cases. Besides, in the last few months, many displaced people have taken refuge in this province, fleeing to escape the attacks of the jihadists in the neighboring province of Cabo Delgado.
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