Somali migrants recount ordeal of 16 days helpless, drifting at sea

Survivors of a boat tragedy that killed more than two dozen Somali migrants off the coast of Madagascar arrive at Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Dec. 7, 2024. Map of Madagascar and the French island of Mayotte Bodies of migrants who died in a boat tragedy are seen on the shore of the Madagascar coast in the Indian Ocean on Nov. 23, 2024. Survivors of a boat tragedy that killed 28 Somali migrants off the coast of Madagascar arrive at Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Dec. 7, 2024.

In the early evening of November 11, after four days at sea, the passengers of two boats carrying 75 Somali migrants spotted distant lights and a hill. They could hear the muezzin calling for the Maghreb, Muslim evening prayers. Their destination, Mayotte, a French island in the Indian Ocean, was finally in sight.