The pilot of a makeshift boat carrying migrants to Mayotte, whose sinking left five dead on Saturday, was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday in immediate appearance. On December 11, five passengers from a kwassa-kwassa, the name of these boats, perished at sea in the south of the island.
The pilot of this boat, tried in immediate appearance Monday, “was sentenced to three years of imprisonment and five years of ban from national territory”, and was imprisoned, said the public prosecutor of Mamoudzou in a press release.
No life jacket
The young man, born in 1991, was prosecuted for “manslaughter and aiding the entry and stay of people in an irregular situation, with endangering the lives of others”. “It emerged from the hearing that the boat, which carried 21 passengers, was devoid of any life jacket,” added the prosecutor. Another kwassa pilot, arrested Monday morning, “was sentenced for helping to stay illegally with endangering the lives of others”, to “15 months’ imprisonment and was also imprisoned”.
In Mayotte, where nearly half of the population is of foreign nationality, the tragedies of illegal immigration are frequent. The most recent took place in May 2021, three people were killed. In September 2020, ten people had died in the sinking of a kwassa-kwassa.