More than 20 individuals are unaccounted for in Malawi following a canoe accident on the Shire River in the southern Nsanje region.
The canoe, carrying approximately 37 people en route to their fields on the Mozambican side, was struck by a hippopotamus and overturned.
One infant’s body has been recovered so far. Efforts by detectives and rescue teams to locate the missing individuals are ongoing, with expectations of a rising death toll. Thirteen people have been rescued thus far.
The area’s lawmaker highlighted the presence of crocodiles and hippos in the river, emphasizing that the boats used were not motorized.
This incident marks the third fatal accident on the river in three years.
Malawi is still in the process of recovering from a destructive tropical storm in March, which claimed the lives of 511 people and left 533 others missing.