'I survived the ferry disaster – but lost 17 of my family'
By Essimela Ibrahim & Jose Tembe
“I don’t know how I managed to escape – I can’t swim,” says Muaziza Ambaraje.
She was on board as Mozambique’s worst sea disaster in recent memory unfolded on Monday.
The 47-year-old is a regular on the makeshift ferry between Lungá, where she was born, and Mozambique Island where she lives.
“No wave took us by surprise, we didn’t hit any rocks, and the wood didn’t come loose,” she recalls.
“Water got into the boat because it was overcrowded – lots of people panicked and started to jump into the sea.”
Next, Ms Ambaraje describes a nightmare jumble of bodies living and dead, as she struggled to keep afloat. More than 100 people died in the chaos on Monday, including 17 members of her family.
Her mother, father, grandmother, nieces and nephews all died, says Ms Ambaraje. She can’t think of any reason she was spared other than God’s mercy.
They had been on their way to visit Mozambique Island’s popular weekly market ahead of Eid, says Ms Ambaraje, in what was meant to be a time of celebration in this Muslim-majority part of the country.
