Somali Migrants Die of Hunger En Route to French Island - UN

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Dozens of Somali immigrants who died in Madagascar may have lacked food and water, the United Nations Immigration team (IOM) has said, ruling out claims that all victims passed away after their boats capsized deep in the Indian Ocean.

IOM regional director for East, Horn, and Southern Africa Frantz Celestin, told VOA the information is “somewhat murky at the moment” and Malagasy authorities are trying to piece things together.

“On November 2nd, and this is according to the survivors, two boats left the coast of Somalia and towards Madagascar. But we believe that their final destination was Mayotte, I think that French island,” he said.

“They encountered some issues and they were effectively, I think, lost that sea. And then their boat finally failed off the coast of Madagascar.” According to him, the tragedy “beset” the migrants even before they reached the shores.

“Apparently in the first boat. And this is what I'm getting from my colleagues who have spoken to some of the survivors. In the first boat, one particular two people unfortunately perished and had to be thrown overboard. And then the other boat, the second boat, the same thing happened that involved 10 people. And then once they arrived in Madagascar, there were 48 survivors,” he said.

When asked about the cause of the death of those who died in the boats, Celestin said “They died of hunger.”

“ According to the survivors, they died because of lack of food and water. And some of the bodies were beginning to decompose….so they decided to throw them overboard, but by the time they did, they had already gone because of hunger and thirst.”

“During the journey, they ran out of fuel and were forced to remove the engines to lighten the load and row manually. Eventually, due to exhaustion, they let the boats drift with the wind,” he said while disputing claims that the boats capsized.

Celestin said the boat eventually failed on the northwest coast of Madagascar, where additional people either died or went missing. “We've activated what we call our humanitarian assistant mechanism to bring them,” he said.

Plans are underway to repatriate those who survived the tragedy, with at least 24 believed to have died. Somalia officials said the boats capsized off the coast of Madagascar with at least 70 people believed to have been on the journey for 'greener pastures'.

Somalia Foreign Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi told state media that Madagascar officials informed them on November 23 about the tragic incident that occurred off the Island of Madagascar.

“One of those boats was carrying 38 people most of them believed to be Somalis; while the other one was carrying 32 people most of them believed to be Somalis,” Fiqi said.

GAROWE ONLINE