At least 25 killed after traffickers capsize boat off Comoros

At least 25 people died off Comoros islands after traffickers capsized their boat on Friday night, the United Nations' migration agency IOM said on Monday, the third such incident in three months.

"IOM Comoros is saddened to hear about the deaths of at least 25 people after their boat was deliberately capsized by traffickers off Comoros Islands, between Anjouan and Mayotte on Friday night," IOM said in a statement.

IOM, citing survivors, said the boat was carrying around 30 people from different nationalities, among them seven women and four children.

"Five survivors were rescued by fishermen on Saturday morning," IOM said.

In September, a boat carrying 12 people sailing from Anjouan failed to reach Mayotte, while in August eight people died in a similar incident, IOM said, adding that thousands have died on this route since 2011 while attempting to reach Mayotte.

Mayotte is officially part of France, although Comoros claims it.

The IOM statement cited a report from the French Senate that estimated that between 7,000 and 10,000 people had lost their lives trying to cross from Comoros to Mayotte between 1995 and 2012 but said this figure could be much higher.

Migrants are estimated to make up nearly half of Mayotte’s population of about 320,000, according to the latest French statistics from 2017. Of that group, 95 per cent were Comoran, it said.

The Muslim-majority Comoros archipelago, situated between Mozambique and Madagascar, was a French colony. In 1974, Mayotte voted to remain part of France while the other islands sought independence and became the Comoros.

There had been two similar tragedies in the same area in the past three months, according to the IOM statement.

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