More than 60 people, mostly children, are reported missing after the vessel they were travelling in capsized off Mozambique’s coast.
The ship, carrying people and goods, had left Nacala port at 15:30 local time on Thursday for Memba district in northern Nampula province, according to state broadcaster Radio Mozambique.
It’s believed that the accident was caused by bad weather, which affected the region on Thursday afternoon.
Some reports say 17 of the people who were on board survived by swimming ashore.
Memba district police commander, Manuela Parula, last night confirmed the incident.
He said a team of health personnel, the police and local leaders were on the ground.
A rescue and search teams were looking for bodies so that they could ascertain the number of the victims, he added.
He said they had learnt about the incident from community leaders, noting that the accident area had a weak communication signal that delayed getting the details.
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Mandela widow urges end to violence against SA women
Graça Machel, the activist, campaigner and widow of Nelson Mandela, has urged South Africans to break the cycle of violence that women and girls are subjected to.
She was giving a speech to mark the 90th birthday of Nobel peace prize winner and South Africa’s anti-apartheid icon Desmond Tutu.
“Violence is the breast milk we feed our young,” she said in a message to South Africans and urged them to honour and cherish Archbishop Tutu’s legacy by ensuring relationships are based on respect and equity.
She spoke of the high incidence of teenage pregnancy in the country.
She said more needed to be done to identify and punish incidents of rape, sexual coercion and abuse as well as incest.
She said children were growing up experiencing hostility and exploitation and it was time for South Africans to stop passing on their trauma to the next generation.
Source: BBC
