At least 17 migrants, from a group identifying themselves as nationals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, drowned after being dropped off near the coast of the Comoros, the archipelago’s Ministry of the Interior announced on Thursday.
“For more than five years, groups of migrants hoping to reach the French department of Mayotte have been abandoned near the Comorian coast, but this is the first time bodies have been recovered,” said the United Nations representative in the Comoros, James Tsok Bot.
Several of the 30 survivors of the accident, which occurred Wednesday, said that smugglers had assured them they had reached Mayotte. Four other people remain missing.
Comorian authorities, in coordination with civil protection services, are continuing search and rescue operations.
This latest tragedy worsens an already ongoing crisis, as the International Organization for Migration reports a significant number of migrant deaths along this dangerous route to Mayotte.
