The executive decreed three days of national mourning, starting on Wednesday (10), for the death of 98 people in a shipwreck on Quissanga beach, on Ilha de Moçambique, in Nampula province.

The shipwreck occurred on Sunday (07), when around 130 people on board a sailing fishing boat were heading from the Lungo Administrative Post to Quissanga beach, on the island of Mozambique, allegedly because they were fleeing cholera.

"The Council of Ministers determines the observance of National Mourning for three days for the death of 98 people by shipwreck off the island of Mozambique, Nampula province, from 00:00 on April 10 until 24:00 on April 12, 2024 throughout the national territory and all the Diplomatic and Consular Missions of the Republic of Mozambique," announced the spokesman for the Council of Ministers.

Speaking after the 11th session of the government, the spokesman, Filimão Suaze, said that a commission of inquiry had been set up to investigate the causes of the tragedy, as well as to step up information mechanisms on cholera.

"The government condemns the misinformation about the spread of cholera in the Lungo Administrative Post, which led to the mass removal of the population to other places by sea," he said.

The Minister of Transport and Communication, Mateus Magala, was also instructed to lead a multi-sectoral team made up of various government bodies, including the Secretary of State, Jaime Neto, and the Provincial Governor, Manuel Rodrigues.

"The Council of Ministers also decided to set up a commission of inquiry to look more deeply into the circumstances, causes and responsibilities of the accident and then make recommendations to the government," he said.

He explained that the government's "delay" in making a public statement had to do with the need to share more accurate information, since the figures on deaths were fluctuating.

"There should have been no delay. Our role as a government is to intervene in time with the most informed information possible," he said.