Overcrowded ferry capsizes off Mozambique’s coast, leaving at least 98 dead

Zimbabwe, Apr. 10 (BNA): A makeshift ferry overcrowded with residents reportedly fleeing a feared cholera outbreak capsized off Mozambique’s northern coast, killing at least 98 people including children, local media said Monday. 

The ferry with an estimated 130 people aboard capsized Sunday after it departed the southeastern African nation’s coast for the nearby Island of Mozambique and at least 11 people were hospitalized, state-run Radio Mozambique quoted island administrator Silvério Nauaito as saying, the Associated Press reported. 

Most of the dead were recovered Sunday, but an additional seven bodies were found Monday, bringing the death toll from 91 to 98, the Noticias newspaper quoted Nauaito as saying. State TV showed what they said was the vessel pulled up on a beach a day after the tragedy, though it wasn’t immediately clear how it had been brought ashore.

Maritime authorities continued to search for additional survivors, Nauaito told the radio station, adding that “it is not easy to say with precision how many remain missing.” Government officials were heading to the accident site Monday to get more precise information, he said.

Y.R