Comoros recovers 17 bodies from a boat bound for Mayotte

Boat capsizing off Comoros coast claims at least seventeen lives as migrants desperate for Mayotte get abandoned at sea.

Tragedy strikes near Mitsamiouli

• Authorities pulled seventeen bodies from waters around Grande Comore.
• Hospital counts eighteen dead including those who drowned after drifting.
• Roughly thirty survivors got rescued many unable to swim at all.

Smugglers ditch group far short

• Migrants mostly from Democratic Republic of Congo aimed for Mayotte.
• Traffickers dumped them hundreds of kilometres from the target island.
• Overcrowded kwassa-kwassa boats lack life jackets or reliable engines.

Mayotte lures with French perks

• French overseas territory grants access to welfare healthcare and education.
• Just seventy kilometres away but currents and weather turn deadly fast.
• Poverty and joblessness in Comoros plus Congo keep pushing people over.

Route racks up grim toll

• Thousands risk it yearly often in unseaworthy overloaded vessels.
• Hundreds of Comorians perished since 2010 with totals possibly much higher.
• Past cases saw boats deliberately flipped or rammed during intercepts.

France tightens grip amid strain

• Visa rules deportations and slum clearances ramp up controls.
• Relations with Comoros sour over migration tactics and natural disaster fallout.
• Asylum seekers from farther afield add extra pressure on the system.