Nine illegal Somali immigrants died after the boat they were travelling in capsized and sank in the Mozambican northern province of Cabo Delgado, police said today.
Police spokesman Pedro Cossa said the boat carrying 82 Somali nationals capsized yesterday.
He said 40 passengers were still missing while 33 people were rescued.
“There’s a whole effort that is being done to at least recover the bodies of the missing persons,” he said.
Mozambique has seen a high number of illegal immigrants in the last few years, many enroute to neighbouring South Africa.
Last week Mozambican police dismissed a South African newspaper report that the country was home to al Qaeda training camps that could launch an attack on the soccer World Cup.
On Tuesday Mozambique police said they arrested last week 15 Pakistanis staying in the country illegally, while two were arrested over an explosion that damaged 23 stores on May 31st.
Reuters