A boat containing 12 members of the same family sank yesterday, Monday (15), causing eight deaths and two missing persons in the district of Caia, Sofala province.

The incident, according to Radio Mozambique, occurred on one of the tributaries of the Zambezi River, with the canoe being overcrowded as the probable cause of the tragedy.

According to the administrator of the Caia district, Nobre dos Santos, two survived the shipwreck, stressing that "after the alert was given, the search for the missing began immediately".

The incident comes a week after the shipwreck on Mozambique Island in which at least 98 people lost their lives. Among the victims, 55 were children, 34 women and 9 men.