There has been an accident on a cargo ship illegally carrying 130 passengers when it sank off Madagascar’s north-eastern coast, killing at least 17 people and leaving 68 missing.
A report from the Maritime and River Port Agency also stated that at least 45 people have been rescued from the waters of the Indian Ocean.
The ship, Francia, had left the city of Antanambe, in the eastern Mananara North district in the early hours of Monday and was sailing south towards the port of Soanierana Ivongo before it got involved in the accident.
According to a statement from the director general of the Maritime and River Port Agency, Jean Edmond Randrianantenaina, it was registered as a cargo ship and therefore was not authorised to carry passengers and Antanambe is not an official port.
“A hole in the ship’s hull is believed to have caused it to sink. According to the information we were able to gather, water entered the engine room. The water started to rise and it swallowed up all the engines.
“Then the ship began to sink. We don’t know exactly what time the water started to rise, but our interventions began around 9am,” he said.
Three boats from the navy and the maritime agency are continuing the search for those still missing.
