Mozambique: Three killed in Mirate, Nairoto administrative post – local sources
Cabo Delgado: Police investigate boat sinking survivors
3:21 CAT | 05 Jun 2020
Survivors of the Wednesday morning sinking
Police are not ruling out the possibility that the boat that sank on Wednesday leaving at least 12 dead might have been carrying recruits into the ranks of the terrorists carrying out attacks in the province.
The overcrowded vessel which sank in bad weather with 46 people on board in the early hours of Wednesday morning, had left Memba district in Nampula on Tuesday night (June 2), bound for Mocimboa da Praia.
The purpose of the trip, according to some survivors, was to fish from one of the islands off the Cabo Delgado coast.
The vessel’s helmsman told DW Africa what happened.
“We were heading towards Timbose Island [off Mocímboa da Praia]. But on the way, bad weather caused heavy seas that keeled us far over, and a second wave capsized us.”
There was no safety equipment on board. One of the survivors says that she clung to drums on the boat. “When we made it to shore, we found two men and asked them to refer us to the authorities. And we explained what had happened to us.”
The shipwreck, which occurred between the districts of Memba and Mecufi, resulted in the death by drowning of at least 12 people, including 10 children, with other victims thought quite possible.
Why fish in Mocímboa da Praia?
Thirty-four survivors, including adults, children and older people, are being held in the Third Police Station in the city of Pemba pending further investigation, because, according to Cabo Delgado police spokesperson Augusto Guta, there are several different versions of events among survivors.
“An interesting fact is that [there are survivors] who say they left Memba for Mocímboa da Praia to go fishing . Why Mocímboa da Praia? This is what we are looking into,” he notes.
The police have not ruled out the possibility of this being a recruiting expedition for the terrorists active in Cabo Delgado for more than two years, and who, in recent months, have stepped up attacks on some district headquarters.
“There is information here that we are still working on, concerning whether this was a group being recruited into the ranks of the terrorists, or a group of individuals who were just going fishing,” Augusto Guta explained.
Source: Deutsche Welle
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