HARARE, Zimbabwe
A makeshift ferry sank off
Mozambique’s northern coast on Sunday, killing more than 90 people including
children, local media reported.
The overcrowded boat was
carrying 130 people and many of those who drowned were children, according to
TV Diário Nampula, a local online outlet. The boat was operating between Lunga
and the Island of Mozambique in Nampula province in the north of the country
when it capsized, the report said.
Rescue efforts continued on
Monday, as people were still reportedly missing.
Some people had been traveling
to attend a fair while others were trying to “flee from Lunga to the Island of
Mozambique for fear of being contaminated by cholera, which has affected that
region in recent days,” TV Diário Nampula reported.
Other news reports quoted
Jaime Neto, the secretary of state in Nampula province, as saying that
misinformation about an alleged cholera outbreak caused people to panic and
board the boat, which ordinarily serves as a fishing vessel, in an attempt to
flee.
Mozambique and neighboring
southern African countries Zimbabwe and Malawi have in recent months been
affected by a deadly cholera outbreak that authorities are battling to contain.
Many areas of Mozambique are
only accessible by boats, which are often overcrowded. The country has a poor
road network and some areas are unreachable by land or air.
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