Sixty-four people from Ethiopia have been found
dead crammed inside a freight container in north-west Mozambique, a senior
hospital official has said.
The victims were discovered on Tuesday in a blue
cargo container loaded on to a truck in the province of Tete. They were
surrounded by survivors. Daily temperature highs in Tete are currently about
34C (93F).
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| Police talk to some of the survivors found in the cargo container. |
“A truck transporting illegal immigrants from
Malawi, suspected to be Ethiopians, was stopped at the Mussacana weight bridge
in Tete, and 64 people were found dead. Only 14 survived,” said the official,
who asked not be named as he did not have the authority to speak to the media.
“The cause of death is presumed to be asphyxiation.”
A picture showed a few survivors sitting surrounded
by corpses, and another showed hospital workers with white plastic aprons and
blue face masks, preparing to offer first aid to survivors and offload the
bodies, which were taken to a local morgue.
Amélia Direito, a provincial immigration
spokeswoman, said all 78 people in the container were Ethiopian men, of whom 64
suffocated.
“The truck driver and his assistant (both
Mozambicans) have been arrested by the police,” said Direito.
She said the driver told police he had been
promised 30,000 meticais (about £385) to transport the men. Police have
launched a manhunt for “the intermediary who facilitated the illegal entry of
the Ethiopians into the country”, she said.
The foreign ministry in Addis Ababa said it had
“confirmed through the Ethiopian embassy in South Africa that many Ethiopians
travelling inside a vehicle from Malawi to Mozambique have died”. It said it
was working to establish the numbers of the dead and their identities.
“The ministry expresses deep sadness at the tragedy
and extends a message of strength to the family and friends of the deceased,”
it said.
Mozambique is generally seen as a smuggling
corridor for migrants seeking to make their way to South Africa. The
continent’s most industrialised country is a magnet for poor migrants not only
from neighbouring countries such as Lesotho and Zimbabwe, but nations further
afield, such as Ethiopia. - Africa
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