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More than 90 people have died after an overcrowded makeshift ferry sank in northern Mozambique amid panic over a cholera outbreak, officials said.
The ferry carrying around 130 passengers sank off the coast of Nampula province as many panic-stricken passengers tried to escape the cholera outbreak on the mainland.
Nampula’s secretary of state Jaime Neto said 91 people have died, including many children while five were rescued.
“Because the boat was overcrowded and unsuited to carry passengers it ended up sinking,” Mr Neto said.
A search and rescue operation was launched to find more survivors but the conditions in the sea made the operation difficult.
A graphic video showed dozens of bodies lined up on the beach as family members and relatives mourned their loss.
The vessel was journeying from Lunga to Mozambique Island, situated off the shores of Nampula.
Mr Neto blamed the disinformation surrounding the cholera outbreak as the reason for people taking risky rides.
It comes as Nampula province of southeastern Africa has been worst hit by the cholera outbreak, which has spread across multiple countries in southern Africa since January 2023.
Mozambique has reported around 14,000 confirmed cases and 32 deaths since October, according to government data.
Unicef has said the outbreak is the worst in the last 25 years and expressed alarm over rising cases among children.
“The key drivers are long-term poor water sanitation and hygiene conditions, exacerbated by changing weather patterns, climate change leading to floods and droughts, end-of-year festivities, inadequate community sensitization [and] late care-seeking behaviour for those that are affected,” Dr Paul Ngwakum, the regional health adviser for Unicef said.
The cholera crisis comes at the top of the Islamist insurgency in the country, which has resulted in the displacement of over 780,000 people and claimed the lives of at least 4,000 since its inception seven years ago.