The sinking of a ship followed by the crash of a rescue helicopter left at least 85 dead in Madagascar.
The toll of the sinking of a ship in the northeast of the island rose to 85 dead in Madagascar on Wednesday, after the discovery of new bodies. These Malagasy seasonal workers had just finished harvesting cloves and were returning to their families for Christmas: 85 of them perished in a shipwreck in the northeast of the island, according to an updated report Thursday.
The goods transport boat, a wooden boat twelve meters long, was not authorized to convey passengers but had 138 people on board, maritime authorities said Thursday. He left on Monday from the small town of Antseraka in the direction of Soanierana-Ivongo, less than a hundred km to the south. It ran aground very close to its destination.
“The toll rises to 85 dead, with 21 (new) bodies recovered,” Gendarmerie General Zafisambatra Ravoavy told AFP. Fifty passengers were saved, mainly people who were on the deck of the boat according to a maritime official.
According to the first elements of the investigation, the engine would have had a technical problem. “The boat found itself at the mercy of the waves and ran aground on a reef,” before taking on the water, said Adrien Ratsimbazafy, of the Maritime and River Port Agency (APMF).
“Personal effects, identity cards and money were found by the emergency services,” said Alban Menavolo, the young mayor of Soanierana-Ivongo. “Most of the passengers were seasonal, from the countryside,” he told AFP. “These Malagasy had gone to harvest the cloves, a little further north of the port of departure and, by taking the boat, they intended to join their family with the money earned, for the end of year celebrations”.
Twenty bodies have not yet been identified
The distance between the two localities is covered in more than two hours by boat, against at least eight by bush taxi, according to several residents. Some prefer to take clandestine boats because of largely impassable roads, explains a villager.
“Many victims are from here, I knew some of them. People are in mourning,” confided the mayor, himself exhausted by the transport of bodies, the burials, the grief in his town.
About twenty bodies have not yet been identified, explained Jean-Edmond Randrianantenaina, director of the APMF. They were buried in a makeshift cemetery while waiting. A photo of the bodies was taken beforehand so families could claim them later.
Cloves are one of Madagascar’s main export products, along with vanilla. The harvest of the flower buds of the clove lasts from October to the end of December. Once dried, they are used in cooking but also for their therapeutic virtues.
A mass is scheduled for Thursday for the deceased and the flags are at half mast. President Andy Rajoelina has declared a day of national mourning to mark the tragedy of this shipwreck, which was accompanied by the crash of a helicopter on its way to the scene, leaving one dead and one missing on the same day.
Monday evening, this helicopter, which left the capital Antananarivo, crashed at sea, with the Secretary of State for the Gendarmerie, Serge Gellé, on board.
Ejected from the aircraft, Mr. Gellé – general of the gendarmerie – and a gendarme survived, swimming for nearly twelve hours to reach the shore. The body of the pilot was found on a beach Thursday afternoon, we learned from the gendarmerie. A fourth passenger, also a gendarme, remains missing.
“My turn to die has not yet come, thank God,” General Gellé, 57, said shortly after being rescued by fishermen.
He explained that gusts of wind caused the aircraft to fall. “If I am still alive (…) it is because we were flying at low altitude, we did not fall from very high because we were flying low following the sea”, he explained to AFP, specifying to have used a seat of the apparatus as a lifeline.
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