MAPUTO (Reuters) – At least 50 Somali and Ethiopian migrants died when a ship carrying 129 people sank off the northern coast of Mozambique last week, media reports said.

Survivors, thought to be illegal migrants, have been taken to refugee camps, Mozambique news agency AIM said late on Tuesday.

The Tanzanian captain of the ship was drowned, it said.

Mozambique authorities were not immediately available for comment.

Mozambique, with its vast coastline and lax legal system, has been increasingly used as a destination for illegal activities including drug trafficking, analysts and U.S. government officials have said.

The country also provides an easy entry point for illegal immigrants to neighbouring South Africa, Africa’s richest economy.

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Reuters

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