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Ferry sinks off Mozambique, leaving more than 90 dead and dozens missing
Harare, Zimbabwe — A makeshift ferry sank off Mozambique’s northern coast Sunday, killing more than 90 people including children and leaving more than 20 missing, officials said.
The Reuters news agency quotes Lourenco Machado, an administrator from the country’s Maritime Transport Institute (INTRASMAR) as saying at least 94 of the 130 people on board died, including children, and 26 were missing.
CBS News partner network BBC News cited officials in Nampula province as saying five people had been rescued.
Machado said the craft involved was an overcrowded fishing boat that wasn’t licensed to transport people.
Nampula Secretary of State Jaime Neto told the BBC that, “Because the boat was overcrowded and unsuited to carry passengers, it ended up sinking.”
Some people were traveling to attend a fair while others were trying to “flee from Lunga to the Island of Mozambique for fear of being contaminated by cholera, which has affected that region in recent days,” state broadcaster TV Diário Nampula reported.
Other news reports quoted Neto as saying misinformation about an alleged cholera outbreak caused people to panic and board the boat in an attempt to flee.
Mozambique and neighboring southern African countries Zimbabwe and Malawi have been affected in recent months by a deadly cholera outbreak that authorities are battling to contain.
Many areas of Mozambique are only accessible by boats, which are often overcrowded. The country has a poor road network and some areas are unreachable by land or air.
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A teacher and student killed in a shooting earlier this week at a school in Madison, Wisconsin, were identified Wednesday by authorities.
The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office said in a news release provided to CBS News that 42-year-old Erin West and 14-year-old Rubi Vergara were fatally shot Monday morning at Abundant Life Christian School.
Preliminary examinations determined the two died of “homicidal firearm related trauma.” Both were pronounced dead at the scene, the medical examiner said.
An online obituary on a local funeral site stated Vergara was a freshman who leaves behind her parents, one brother, and a large extended family. It described her as “an avid reader” who “loved art, singing and playing keyboard in the family worship band.”
West’s exact position with the school was unclear.
The medical examiner also confirmed that a preliminary autopsy found that the suspected shooter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow — a student at the same school — was pronounced dead at a local hospital Monday of “firearm related trauma.” Madison Chief of Police Shon F. Barnes had previously told reporters that Rupnow was pronounced dead while being transported to a hospital.
Police had also previously stated that she was believed to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The shooting at the private Christian K-12 school was reported just before 11 a.m. Monday. In addition to the two people killed and the shooter, six others were wounded.
Police said the shooting occurred in a classroom where a study hall was taking place involving students from several grades.
A handgun was recovered after the shooting, Barnes said, but it was unclear where the gun came from or how many shots were fired. A law enforcement source said the weapon used in the shooting appears to have been a 9 mm pistol.
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