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ANTANANARIVO (AFP) - Thirty-six people were killed and 42 were missing in north Madagascar after a storm lashed the region at the weekend, while a ferry from the Comoros was still missing, rescue services said. AFP Photo AFP Slideshow: Cyclones & Typhoons "The latest toll, established at 4:00 pm (1300 GMT) is 36 dead, 42 missing, 17 injured and 6,088 homeless," rescue service official Farah Rasoarimamonjy told AFP. "With regard to the Samson ferry, we can confirm that there were two survivors but we have no official information about the other passengers," she said. "We cannot count them among the dead or the missing," she said. The Samson set off Saturday evening from the Comoros with 120 passengers and crew on board, bound for the northwest Madagascar port of Mahajanga. It has not been heard of since Sunday night and Comoros Transport Minister and government spokesman Ali Msaidie said Thursday it had "almost certainly sunk." 8th street latinas "We will decree three days of national mourning starting today," Msaidie told reporters. He said he had spoken with a survivor of the accident who said she saw the boat go down. "This is a real tragedy. There are two survivors out of 120 on board," the minister said. Mike in Brazil Rasoarimamonjy also confirmed earlier reports that a fishing boat had sunk near Mahajanga, and that one crewmember had survived and another was confirmed dead. The trawler, which belonged to fisheries company Somapeche, capsized in the mouth of the Betsiboka River during the storm. "With regard to the Somapeche boat, there was one survivor and one death. The body of a mechanic who was on the boat has been found," said Rasoarimamonjy, without giving details about the fate of the rest of the crew, which earlier reports had put at between 12 and 15. |