Bartamaha (Maputo) – A boat carrying illegal immigrants from Somalia has sunk off the coast of northern Mozambique, killing nine and leaving 40 missing, state media said Tuesday.

Rescue workers pulled 33 other passengers from the sea after the accident on Monday, AIM news agency reported.

It happened off the coast of Cabo Delgado province, about 200 kilometres (124 miles) from the border with Tanzania.

Police said all the passengers were illegal immigrants of Somali origin.

“A lot of effort is put into at least recovering the bodies of missing persons,” said police spokesman Pedro Cossa.

Mozambique is a popular transit point for illegal immigrants en route to South Africa, the continent’s largest economy.

Police in Mozambique have detained 618 illegal immigrants in the past week.

Refugee camps in the north of the country house 7,700 refugees who come mostly from Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. -
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Source:-Sapa-AFP

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