By Bisola Adeyemo
No fewer than 17 people die and 60 lacking as a boat carrying illegal passengers sink off northeast Madagascar Coast.
Maritime Authority, chief Jean-Edmund Port Authority Director Jean Edmond Landria Nantenina reports that the incident happened early hour on Monday.
Added that 45 of the 130 passengers on the vessel were rescued, searches continuing for the others with the help of local volunteers, AFP reports.
Another port authority official, Adrian Fabris Ratsimbajafi, stated that the cause of the accident was happened to be an engine problem as that the boat developed engine “technical issues”, the boat found itself “on the mercy of the waves and established on a wall”.
A staff from Gendarmes headed to the positioning and opened an investigation on the island off the southeast coast of Africa.