The death toll from Cyclone Freddy, which passed through southern Africa in the middle of March after causing severe flooding and landslides, may approach 1,200 in Malawi as search efforts for survivors diminish, police and authorities warned on Thursday.
At least 676 people died in Malawi, the disaster’s epicentre, as a result of the cyclone. More than two weeks after the accident, the country’s disaster management agency claims that the likelihood of discovering the 538 missing people has painfully decreased.
Sniffer dog searches are still being conducted in some locations, but not in severely damaged Blantyre, according to the organisation’s head Charles Kalemba, who stated on Wednesday that “the team on the ground has notified us that they have done their best.”
“Given the number of days that have passed, the chances of finding people alive are slim, which is why we will wait for the police to declare when we can consider that the missing persons are dead,” he said.
According to police spokesman Harry Namwaza, that choice is still in the early stages. “The search is still being conducted by the army and police. The time will come to proclaim the missing presumed dead once we have finished this process.”
He made no predictions about how long the hunt would last. “We are still getting to some previously inaccessible regions, so it is impossible to say. Work still needs to be done “Added he.
The cyclone of unusual longevity, which developed off the coast of Australia in early February, has traveled an incredible 8,000 km from east to west across the Indian Ocean.
It traveled in a circle that was rarely observed by meteorologists, first striking Madagascar and Mozambique at the end of February and then Malawi and these two nations again in March.
According to the UN, in addition to the significant death toll in Malawi, Freddy also killed 165 people in Mozambique and a further 17 in Madagascar.
