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No fewer than 18 African migrants drowned while attempting to reach the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte.
Comoros‘ Interior Minister Mohamed Ahamada Assoumani told reporters that 30 people were found alive after they were dropped off by smugglers off the coast of the town of Mitsamiouli at the northern tip of the Comoros’ largest island, Grande Comore.
AFP reported that the survivors said they were from the Democratic Republic of Congo and were heading to neighbouring Mayotte, often described as an attractive destination for migrants.
A young man who helped the rescue team told AFP that many of the migrants were dropped off at sea and had no swimming skills.
“Last night, we found eight dead. The bodies were recovered by the residents of Mitsamiouli, fishermen and authorities,” said Assoumani.
“This morning, we were able to recover nine bodies. At present we have 17 dead. The coastguard is searching for the four missing bodies. They say they are Congolese, they come from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
A 25-year-old survivor said he had come from North Kivu and boarded a boat in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam.
“I spent three days in the forest. Then I took a bus to Dar es Salaam. From there, we took a boat. The journey lasted seven days. Very quickly, we could tell that the captain had become lost. At one point, we did not have bread or water,” he said.
Comoros is nearly 700 kilometres (435 miles) southeast of Dar es Salaam, with Mayotte another 200 kilometres away.
A man from Mitsamiouli, who helped with rescuing the African migrants, said they were watching the Barca–Newcastle match when they heard screams coming from the beach
“We hurried over there. We found men, women, and children. They said they thought they had arrived in Mayotte,” he said.
“The smuggler had dropped them off on a sandbank a few metres from the beach and there they could still touch the bottom. The problems began when they tried to reach the shore, even though many of them didn’t know how to swim.”
