A family in Somalia is mourning the death of their kin, 26-year-old Fathi Hussein, who was reportedly thrown overboard by fellow travellers when she succumbed to hunger during a 1,100-kilometre journey from Mombasa to the French Island of Mayotte via boat.
She is among 24 people who perished when they were abandoned by smugglers who had promised them a safe passage through the tumultuous Indian Ocean. They were left adrift for 14 days with conditions on the boat getting worse each passing day leaving only 48 survivors.
Speaking to the BBC, a family member of Fathi said that other survivors informed the family that she had died of hunger after refusing to resort to eating raw sea creatures.
"People were eating raw fish and drinking seawater, which she refused. They said she started hallucinating before she died. And after that, they threw her body into the ocean," she told BBC.
Her family learnt of her death from survivors and fellow Somalis who had been rescued off the Coast of Madagascar one week ago.
Before embarking on the tragic journey, Fathi had been a successful salon owner in Mogadishu, Somalia, and she hid the decision to travel from her family except for her younger sister.
"She used to hate the ocean. I don’t know why and how she made that decision. I wish I could give her a hug," the sister stated.
She flew from Mogadishu to Kenya’s Coast Mombasa where she paid migrant smugglers with money she had made in her business.
Midway through the journey, the smugglers claimed that the boat had developed mechanical issues and had to immediately turn around to get back to Kenya.
They bundled the over 70 passengers into two boats and left them adrift, promising they only had three hours to reach their destination. Three hours turned to fourteen days with travellers resorting to drinking seawater and eating raw fish.
Eventually, the boats capsized and those who had not succumbed to pangs of hunger and dehydration drowned.
Some of the survivors still believe that the smugglers’ decision to leave them stranded in the ocean was a calculated move to con them off their money as they had already paid and had no intention to see the journey through.
According to the International Migration Organization (IMO), hundreds of Africans lose their lives on this same path each year in their quest to reach Mayotte where they aim to acquire a French passport and gain entry into Europe.
Most of the Somali migrants, looking to achieve this dream fly to Nairobi and then travel by boat from Mombasa via the Comoros islands. Those with more access to money fly to Ethiopia and then to Madagascar because Somali passport holders qualify for a visa on arrival.
