Four missing, 13 survive Zambezia sinkings

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Four missing, 13 survive Zambezia sinkings

11:45 CAT | 30 May 2017

File photo

Four people were missing and 13 survived two boat sinkings last weekend in the central province of Zambézia, Mozambique. The first accident occurred on the Chipaca River on the outskirts of Quelimane, the provincial capital, and the second on the Chirimane River in Inhassunge district.

Rivers administration authorities blame overcrowding in both cases, together with bad weather in the region. Witnesses said 10 people were aboard vessel that sank in the Chipaca River, including seven workers from the Saguar bakery and three crew members.

More sad news came on Sunday, where a vessel carrying passengers sank on the river Chipaca, with three missing and seven survivors. Basilio Mussalina, a cousin of one of those missing, told AIM yesterday that the chances of finding his cousin alive, with the bad weather on Sunday night in the Zambézia coastal zone, were remote.

“My experience as an islander indicates that there is little chance of finding the missing people still alive. What we have to do is to try to locate the victims as soon as possible, before decomposition of the bodies sets in,” said a visibly shocked Mussalina.

Six people in the Inhassunge district survived the sinking on the Chirimane River, and the maritime authorities launched search operations to find the four missing, three on the Chipaca River and one on the Chirimane River.

The head of maritime surveillance and security at the National Institute of Maritime Administration in Zambézia, Captain-General Silvestre Gabriel, declined to comment on the incidents, promising to reveal details later.

Source: AIM