At least 22 people died overnight from Saturday to Sunday in a shipwreck off the northern coast of Madagascar as the vessel tried to illegally reach the French archipelago of Mayotte, authorities said Monday.
“For the moment, we continue the search to find other victims and rescue the survivors of this tragic event,” a representative of the Madagascar Maritime and River Ports Agency said today.
The sunken boat was found early Sunday morning by fishermen who, due to the limited capacity of the boat, were only able to save 25 people, two of whom later died.
The causes of the accident are still unknown, since up to now it has not been possible to locate the affected boat, although the burns found on some of the corpses point to a possible explosion.
“I send my condolences to those who lost relatives and loved ones in this accident,” said the country’s president, Andry Rajoelina, on Sunday night through the social network Facebook.
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in attempted illegal crossings between the African archipelago and the French archipelago.
Source: TSF
