A makeshift ferry with nearly 130 people on board sank off the northern coast of Mozambique. Authorities said some passengers were attending a fair, while others were trying to escape a deadly cholera outbreak.
A makeshift ferry capsized and sank off the northern coast of Mozambique on Sunday, killing more than 90 people on board, according to several media reports.
Nearly 130 people were on board a vessel used for fishing. Some were traveling to attend a fair while others were trying to escape a cholera outbreak. Many of those on board were children, according to TV Diario Nampula, a local news outlet.
The boat was traveling from Lunga and the Island of Mozambique in Nampula province.
Mozambique officials say capsized vessel was overcrowded, DW’s Dianne Hawker
What authorities in Mozambique said
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There were varying reports on the exact death toll. Silverio Nauaito, the administrator of the small island near the northern Nampula province where the disaster occurred, told AFP that the number of deaths had risen to 96 after five more bodies were found.
“It was a small vessel that was transporting 130 passengers. The boat didn’t have the capacity to transport these people and it sank,” Jaime Neto, secretary of state for the province of Nampula, said.
Neto told media outlets that misinformation about the cholera outbreak caused people to panic and flee. Several bodies were seen lying on a beach, and some people were carrying the bodies of children, according to videos circulated on social media.
