Mozambican boat capsizes off Likoma

A Malawian man is reportedly missing while three others have been rescued after a boat sailing from Mozambique to Likoma Island capsized on Sunday around 5am due to heavy easterly winds on Lake Malawi.

Likoma Police sub-inspector Peter Raphael said the boat, which was carrying bags of charcoal with three men and a woman on board, departed Uchesi Village on the Mozambican side around 3am.

He said that the passengers endured a two-hour struggle with heavy winds.

Said Raphael: “Just before the boat capsized, the woman, Lucy Kaunda, phoned her husband on Likoma Island alerting him of the situation before the boat later capsized.

“Luckily, the boat operators from Mozambique swam a long distance and got some fishers’ boat, which they used to rescue their colleagues.

Later, an engine boat from Likoma joined the rescue operation.

Raphael identified the missing Malawian as Davie Zakia, from Kanyoza Village in Traditional Authority Ganya, Ntcheu.

He asked boat operators, fishers and travellers to always follow weather updates before embarking on any journey on the lake.

Kaunda, who was stable, said: “I thank God for allowing me to survive this tragedy after over an hour of struggling to swim.”