Mozambican Cyclone Victims In Malawi

Maputo, 17 Mar (AIM) – A Mozambican woman and her three children were swept to their deaths in Malawi, by the floods resulting from the passage of Cyclone Freddy.

The woman’s body was found among cyclone debris, but the rest of the family is still missing. This brings to five the number of Mozambicans known to have died in the cyclone in Malawi.

According to Radio Mozambique, the president of the Mozambican community in the southern region of Malawi, Zacarias Mussaia, regrets the tragic event that caused pain, mourning and the situation of his fellow residents, who are currently living in the open.

The Mozambican consul in Blantyre, André Matusse, said that an unspecified number of Mozambican families are living in the open, exposed to the elements, in the city of Blantyre and others in the districts of Nsanje, Mangochi and Chikwawa, after their houses were destroyed by the cyclone.

The latest death toll from Malawi is 225 deaths. 41 people are still missing and 707 have suffered serious injuries.

Floods, high winds and mudslides displaced more than 88,000 people in Malawi, who are accommodated in 165 camps. President Lazarus Chakwera visited some of the displaced families on Wednesday and participated in the funerals of 48 of the victims, who were buried in Chilobwe, Blantyre, that day.

Freddy is the longest lasting cyclone on record, with a route that has covered more than 10,000 kilometres since it was detected off the coast of Australia on 4 February. It crossed the Indian Ocean, and then entered the Mozambique Channel twice, battering Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi.

Zt/pf