In the French territory of Mayotte, the passage of Cyclone Chido has already left at least 14 dead, and hundreds of victims - which could number in the thousands, say the local authorities. Pope Francis mentioned them in his prayers this Sunday. It was at the end of an unprecedented visit to the French island of Corsica, where Francis celebrated Mass for 15,000 people.

"Let us pray for the victims of the cyclone that has hit the Mayotte archipelago in recent hours. I support those who have been affected by this tragedy," said the Pope during the Angelus prayer in the cathedral of Ajaccio.

"I want to express my condolences to our compatriots in Mayotte who have faced something terrible in recent hours and who, for some, have lost everything, including their lives," said the French president Emmanuel Macron during a brief conversation with Pope Francis on Corsica.

At least 14 people have died in Mayotte, a French archipelago in the Indian Ocean, as a result of the passage of tropical cyclone Chido, which on Saturday devastated part of these islands in the south-east of the African continent, which has a population of just over 300,000 and is located around 800 km from Mozambique.

The phenomenon, which entered the mainland of Mozambique at level 4 from the districts of Memba in Nampula province and Mecúfi in Cabo Delgado, also affected Niassa province, but on a smaller scale.

"And the estimate of the entire population that suffered or felt the impact, we're talking about more than 860,000 people. But we could have between 200 and 250 thousand people in need of assistance," said Agostinho Vilanculos, from the National Directorate for the Management of Hydraulic Resources.