Harare, Zimbabwe — A makeshift ferry sank off Mozambique’s northern coast on Sunday, killing more than 90 people, including children, and leaving more than 20 missing, officials said.
The Reuters news agency quotes Lourenco Machado, an administrator at the country’s Maritime Transport Institute (INTRASMAR), as saying that at least 94 of the 130 people on board had died, including children, and that 26 were missing.
CBS News partner network BBC News cited officials in Nampula province saying five people had been rescued.
Machado said the boat involved was an overcrowded fishing boat that was not licensed to transport people.
Nampula’s Secretary of State, Jaime Neto, told the BBC that “because the boat was overcrowded and unsuitable for carrying passengers, it ended up sinking.”
Some people were traveling to attend a fair while others tried to “flee from Lunga to the island of Mozambique for fear of being contaminated by cholera, which has affected this region in recent days”, the channel reported public television station TV Diário Nampula.
Other reports cite Neto as saying that misinformation about a supposed cholera outbreak caused people to panic and board the boat in an attempt to flee.
Mozambique and neighboring southern African countries Zimbabwe and Malawi have been hit in recent months by a deadly cholera outbreak that authorities are struggling to contain.
Many areas of Mozambique are only accessible by boat, which is often overcrowded. The country has a poor road network and some areas are inaccessible by land or air.
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