2021 Madagascar shipwreck

2021 Madagascar shipwreck

Date	20 December 2021
Location	Madagascar, Indian Ocean
Deaths	85
Missing	3

On 20 December 2021, a cargo ship illegally carrying 130 passengers sank off the northeast coast of Madagascar. A hole in the hull caused the engine room to flood, leaving the vessel vulnerable to wave action. At least 85 people died during the accident.

The Francia was a 12-metre-long (39 ft) wooden vessel that was not authorized to carry passengers.^[1] The ship had illegally taken on 130 passengers for a journey from Antanambe (which is not registered as an official port) to Soanierana Ivongo, a journey of around 100 kilometres (54 nmi).^[1][2][3] Including crew, 138 people were on board. The vessel sank late on 20 December 2021 after its engine room was flooded, leaving it exposed to the action of waves.^[4] The flooding was caused by a hole in the ship's hull.^[3]

Malagasy police minister Serge Gellé was flown to the site of the shipwreck on 21 December.^[5] His helicopter crashed and he was one of two surviving passengers (the other was Chief Warrant Officer Jimmy Laitsara).^[6] The survivors separately reached land at Mahambo. Gellé used a seat from the helicopter as a flotation device during his twelve-hour overnight swim to safety.^[5][7] Gellé swam to within 500 metres (1,600 ft) of the shore, but the waves prevented him from reaching land. He was spotted by a fisherman, whose canoe was too small to accommodate them both. The fisherman returned two hours later with a larger canoe and brought Gellé to dry land.^[1] The body of one of the helicopter's occupants, a police colonel, was later recovered; the pilot remains missing.^[8]

A separate helicopter carried the prime minister, Christian Ntsay, and minister of national defence, General Léon Richard Rakotonirina, to the site of the shipwreck.^[9]

A force of Malagasy gendarmes was sent to the site and an investigation into the sinking was started by the Malagasy government.^[10] Three vessels from the Madagascar Navy and maritime agency assisted in the search for survivors.^[3] By 22 December, 64 bodies had been recovered, with around 24 people missing and around 50 survivors rescued.^[2][4] The following day the Madagascan Maritime and Port Agency announced that the confirmed death toll had increased to 85, with three persons missing.^[1][7][11]

President Andry Rajoelina paid tribute to those who died in the shipwreck and helicopter crash.^[7] The graveyard of Soanierana-Ivongo was too small to accommodate all the bodies recovered, so some were sent to nearby villages for burial.^[1]