At least 94 people, including children, have died after a makeshift ferry sank off the northern coast of Mozambique, according to reports in the country.
The boat was carrying people fleeing the cholera outbreak that is ravaging the East African nation, state broadcaster TVM has reported.
Lourenco Machado, an administrator at the country’s Maritime Transport Institute, told the news service 26 people remain missing after the vessel capsized on Sunday.
He added that the vessel was an overloaded fishing boat and was not licensed to transport people.
“On Sunday we registered a maritime incident where at least 94 people died when a barge carrying 130 people capsized. We have recovered 94 bodies and 26 are missing,” he continued.
Mr Machado also said children were among the dead.
He added that the boat was ferrying people from Lunga in Nampula Province to the Island of Mozambique – which sits off the northern coast of the main country.
Mr Machado said initial reports indicated the boat capsized after it was hit by a tidal wave.
Rescuers have reportedly found five survivors as search efforts continued on Monday morning.
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Video shared on social media claims to show dead bodies lying on a beach.
Silverio Nauaito, the administrator of the Island of Mozambique, has said the boat had an estimated capacity of 100 people but was carrying around 130 at the time, the STV television channel in the country reports.
In reference to the cholera outbreak, the administrator added that people were leaving Lunga “because there is an epidemic of diarrhoea there”.
“People get symptoms, three minutes later they are already dying. Therefore, they went looking for this vessel to see if it could carry people to the Island of Mozambique,” the administrator said.
Mozambique and neighbouring southern African countries Zimbabwe and Malawi have in recent months been affected by a deadly outbreak of cholera that authorities are trying to contain.
