At least 22 migrants died when a boat capsized off the coast of Madagascar over the weekend, the island nation’s maritime authorities said on Monday.
“Forty-seven people secretly boarded a boat to (the French territory of) Mayotte, but it sank,” Madagascar’s maritime authority APMF said in a statement.
“Thirty-three passengers could be saved. Twenty-two bodies have been recovered,” he said, adding that the accident happened on Saturday and search and rescue operations are continuing for the two people who are still missing.
Many migrants try every year to reach the French territory of Mayotte, which is located north of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.
In 2021, more than 6,500 people were detained trying to enter the region secretly, according to French authorities.
There are no applicable statistics on the number of people who have died attempting the crossing. A French senate report published in the early 2000s estimated that, at the time, around 1,000 people died each year.