Boat sinks with 11 people on board in Tete

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Boat sinks with 11 people on board in Tete

12:23 CAT | 10 Apr 2018

File photo: O País

At least one person was declared dead and five are still missing after a boat sank last Friday on the Zambezi river Cahora Bassa dam reservoir in Tete, police spokeswoman Lurdes Ferreira has announced, quoted by AIM.

At the time of the sinking, the vessel was carrying 11 people, including one crew member. The authorities cite bad weather and overcrowding as probable causes. The boat’s capacity was only eight passengers.

“The search rescued five people, and five are still missing. One woman’s body was found,” the police spokeswoman told a press conference in Tete on Monday.

The passengers currently missing are a one-year-old child, a woman, a student and two on-duty agents of the Lake and River Police, Ferreira explained. The search for the missing passengers is ongoing.

This is the first maritime accident on the Cahora Bassa dam this year. At the time of the accident, the vessel was transporting the passengers from Zumbo to Mágoé.

Recently, the Minister of Transport and Communications, Carlos Mesquita, expressed his concern about the high number of drownings reported annually in Mozambique.

According to Mesquita, at least 58 shipwrecks were reported in Mozambique in 2017, resulting in 155 deaths and 77 missing. The previous year, 64 shipwrecks caused 208 deaths and 20 missing

Mesquita describes the current scenario as a rather bleak picture, and has ordered the withdrawal from service of vessels which are unsafe for the transport of people and goods.

He also announced that his ministry would be improving mechanisms for monitoring vessel capacity and the qualification of crews.

Source: O País