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2nd LD Writethru: 9 killed, 3 missing in shipwreck off NW Madagascar

Xinhua, May 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Nine were killed and three others are still missing in a shipwreck Wednesday off Nosy Be, a resort island off the northwest coast of Madagascar, a local port authority official said.

The tragedy happened some 300 kilometers off Nosy Be on Wednesday evening, when the speed boat Vas-Y was transporting 19 illegal immigrants to Mayotte, APMF General Director Jean Hubert Zipa said Thursday morning.

The remaining seven passengers aboard the boat were rescued in a search overnight, he added.

Zipa said the speed boat did not report its travel plan to the port authority when it left Madagascar on Wednesday, and none of the passengers had any official immigration documents.

It is reported that traffickers demanded some 1000 U.S. dollars from the passengers, who planned to work in the French-controlled Mayotte only 400 kilometers away from Madagascar, or a six-hour trip by speed boat. Endi