MAYOTTE - ACCIDENT
Six migrants drown off French Indian Ocean island
Wednesday 23 July 2008
At least six people have drowned and several others are missing after a vessel carrying migrants sank trying to reach the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, officials said.
Wednesday 23 July 2008
By AFPTwo planes and five patrol boats were Wednesday searching choppy waters off the French Indian Ocean island Mayotte for survivors of a shipwreck that left six migrants dead, officials said.
The provisional toll after the sinking of the makeshift vessel -- believed to have had up to 30 people on board from the nearby Comoros islands -- was six survivors and six dead, officials said.
French Foreign Legion soldiers based on Mayotte were also engaged in the search, scouring the island's coastline for signs of survivors.
Dozens of migrants perish each year as they attempt the crossing from the Comoros archipelago to Mayotte on traditional wooden vessels known as a kwassa-kwassa.
Mayotte opted to remain French when the rest of the Comoros won independence in 1975 and is seen by its poor neighbours as an El Dorado, offering a high standard of living, more employment opportunities and better education.
Illegal immigrants account for a third of the population of Mayotte.
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