Madagascar admits ferry sank
2004-03-12 09:11
Antalaha, Madagascar - A ferry that went missing in a cyclone off Madagascar sank with all but two of its 113 passengers and crew trapped inside, port authorities said.
The drownings, verified on Thursday, brought the death toll from Cyclone Gafilo to 154. Another 43 people were killed on the island.
The survivors - a man and woman from Comoros - told officials at the northwestern port of Mahajanga that the ship capsized on Sunday evening in violent seas. They said they washed ashore in Madagascar the following day on a makeshift raft.
More than 80 000 people have been cut off from the outside world since the cyclone ripped through northern Madagascar on Sunday, collapsing bridges, toppling trees and reducing tarred roads to gravel. Telephone and power lines were also downed in the storm.
Humanitarian workers don't know how much food or water they have left.
Gafilo then swept out to sea before doubling back and taking a second hit at the Indian Ocean island near the southwestern town of Morombe on Wednesday. By Thursday, it had weakened to a tropical storm as it moved toward the southeastern coast.
The Samson left the Comoros islands capital of Moroni on Saturday for a regular crossing to Madagascar. The 92 passengers and 21 crew had been feared dead since Monday, when they failed to turn up at Mahajanga. They included two French nationals, 31 Madagascans and 80 Comorians.
Colonel Asali Assoumane, president of Comoros, declared a three-day period of mourning from Thursday.
"There is no possibility of finding survivors," said Nailani Nakchamy, a Comorian government official.
At least 43 others were killed and thousands displaced by the cyclone, which whipped through towns and fields with winds of 235km/h.
The World Food Programme estimates the country will need about five thousand tons of food.
"The situation is very serious," said WFP country director Gianluca Ferrera. "The main rice growing area which feeds the entire country has effectively been destroyed. There is no hope for a good harvest."
The vanilla crop, the country's main export, has also been wiped out.
It takes four years for a crop to mature, and farmers were just recovering from a cyclone that hit in 2000 when Gafilo struck.
"Our region could produce up to 600 tons of vanilla a year, which we could sell for up to $400/kg, but now it is all gone," local Governor Benaivo Andrianaly Narcisse said.
Many vulnerable families will need help for months, if not years to come, said WFP spokesperson Mike Huggins.
The French Red Cross has set up 20 large white tents on a soccer field which are accommodating 419 people.
The main concern now, is outbreaks of diseases like cholera and diarrhoea.
When Gafilo hit Madagascar, the country was still recovering from Cyclone Elita, which killed 29 people and left about 44 000 homeless, according to UN figures. In 1994, Cyclone Geralda affected 450 000
- AP