Mozambique: Police find 64 dead, 14 survivors in truck container from Malawi

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Mozambique: Police find 64 dead, 14 survivors in truck container from Malawi

2:08 CAT | 24 Mar 2020

Photo: Miramar

Mozambican police have found 64 dead bodies inside a container on a truck stopped at a weigh station in Tete, western Mozambique.

The container held 14 survivors, a Mozambican police source told Lusa.

The same source suggests that the deaths were caused by asphyxiation. The victims are presumed to be illegal immigrants from various countries, who crossed the border from Malawi.

The situation was detected at a weigh station in Mussacama, Moatize district, when those still alive in the container started hitting its sides and screaming to draw attention.

According to TV Miramar, the container was en route from Malawi to the Moatize district in Tete and carried Ethiopian citizens.

The driver, who was immediately arrested, told Miramar that he was surprised at the number of people in the container. “In exchange for 30,000 meticais, I was asked to transport 25 people to Moatize,” he said. He was allegedly approached by a guide for illegal immigrants, hired in Malawi by a person as yet unidentified.

Teams from the police, the National Criminal Investigation Migration and Health Services are now conducting a triage, and will later move the bodies to the city of Tete, given the lack of capacity at the Moatize morgue.