51 Somali migrants killed in Mozambique boat sinking: police

(AFP) – 1 day ago

MAPUTO — Fifty-one illegal Somali immigrants died after a boat transporting them sank off the coast of northern Mozambique 10 days ago, police said on Tuesday.
"There were 51 deaths, 50 Somalis and the captain of the boat," police spokesman Pedro Cossa told journalists, saying the boat sank off the Suhavo Island in Cabo Delgado.
He said the Tanzanian-owned boat was coming from Somalia carrying 129 illegal immigrants, 89 Somalis and 40 Ethiopians, when it sank on February 5.
The survivors were sent to a refugee centre in Nampula, northern Mozambique, said Cossa.
Last week authorities "repatriated 123 Somali illegal immigrants who had landed on that island (Suhavo)," he added.
Last year a boat carrying illegal immigrants from Somalia sunk off the coast of Cabo Delgado province, killing nine people.
The country has seen a continual stream of Somali, Ethiopian, Bangladeshi Indian and Chinese migrants enters northern Mozambique and most are believed to be headed for South Africa.
Promises of a better life in South Africa, the largest economy on the continent, attract scores of immigrants every year, mostly from Africa.