At least 96 people are dead, including many children, after an overcrowded boat sank off the coast of Nampula Province in northern Mozambique on Sunday night.
According to reports, around 130 people were on the vessel – a fishing boat that was not licensed to carry large numbers of people – when it sank. Five people were rescued, two of whom are receiving treatment in hospital, and at least 26 people are still missing. Sea conditions have made ongoing rescue efforts difficult.
Most of the passengers were attempting to escape the mainland for the Island of Mozambique, panicked by disinformation about a cholera epidemic currently plaguing the area.
[See more: Mozambique plans to vaccinate 2.2 million people against cholera]
This is not the first time disinformation has caused tragedy in Mozambique. Three people in the province of Cabo Delgado, Nampula’s northern neighbour, died back in January as cholera-related disinformation sparked violent riots in multiple cities.
Mozambique has recorded almost 15,000 cases and 32 deaths from the disease since October. Cases of the waterborne disease soared globally last year with at least 4,000 deaths and 667,000 cases. The WHO has classified the global resurgence as a grade 3 emergency, its highest emergency level, and warned that a global shortage of cholera vaccines will last until at least 2025.
Many of the worst affected areas are in Southern Africa, including Zambia and Malawi, which saw its worst outbreak in history with more than 1,100 deaths. “The unprecedented rate of cases and deaths is terrifying”, Machinda Marongwe, Oxfam programme director for Southern Africa, said in January. “The outbreak is spiralling into an uncontrollable health crisis.”
