Mozambique ferry disaster: 'I survived - but lost 17 of my family'

"I don't know how I managed to escape - I can't swim," says Muaziza Ambaraje.

She was on board as Mozambique's worst sea disaster in recent memory unfolded on Monday.

The 47-year-old is a regular on the makeshift ferry between Lungá, where she was born, and Mozambique Island where she lives.

"No wave took us by surprise, we didn't hit any rocks, and the wood didn't come loose," she recalls.

"Water got into the boat because it was overcrowded - lots of people panicked and started to jump into the sea."

Next, Ms Ambaraje describes a nightmare jumble of bodies living and dead, as she struggled to keep afloat. More than 100 people died in the chaos on Monday, including 17 members of her family.

Her mother, father, grandmother, nieces and nephews all died, says Ms Ambaraje. She can't think of any reason she was spared other than God's mercy.

They had been on their way to visit Mozambique Island's popular weekly market ahead of Eid, says Ms Ambaraje, in what was meant to be a time of celebration in this Muslim-majority part of the country.

"I felt completely broken inside," recalls Momade Issufo, who rushed over to rescue people on Monday as soon as he heard the news of the shipwreck.

"I saw bodies piled up on the shore - some were children as young as three years old. People were panicking.

"I had no choice - as a human being I had to help. There were still people in the rescue boats, so we transported their bodies in my truck to their relatives' homes."

The 44-year-old says his heavily pregnant cousin was among the dead. The ordeal has left him feeling depressed and unable to work.

Mr Issufo wants the Mozambique government to build a new bridge from the mainland to the island, a Unesco World Heritage Site, so people don't have to rely on the dangerous boats.

Thousands of fishing boats operate illegally as ferries along the country's 2,750km (1,708-mile) coastline, by the government's own admission.

Passengers tell the BBC that unregulated operators often overload the boats to increase their profits.

So why has Mozambique allowed this to happen? What compensation will Monday's victims get? And how will the authorities stop such a tragedy ever happening again?

The government initially declined to respond to the BBC's request for comment. An official from the country's maritime agency also told the BBC they were under instructions not to comment.

However, a local official for the province of Nampula, Secretary of State Jaime Neto, later told the BBC that transport, food and psychological support were on offer, and coffins for the dead were being supplied.

There is no talk yet of compensation or financial aid.

Three days of national mourning come to an end on Friday, and an inquiry is being launched to find the cause of the accident and make recommendations.

The government's initial explanation for Monday's tragedy was that panicked people were fleeing the mainland in large numbers, after false information was maliciously spread telling them they must go to Mozambique Island to escape an ongoing cholera outbreak.

While visiting the bereaved on Wednesday, President Filipe Nyusi condemned the "bad faith" spreaders of disinformation who "sow fear and terror among the population".

Boat accidents are not uncommon in Mozambique but rarely do so many people die.

The total number of dead is still disputed.

A local official who spoke to the BBC said 115 people had died, significantly higher than the 98 reported by central government.

Ibrahim Momade Munheti, Jembesse community leader, also said 150 people were on the boat when it sank. But the government said it was carrying closer to 130.

The Muslim faith requires swift burial, and many of the wreck's victims have already been laid to rest in Mozambique Island - some of them two to a grave.

For those left behind, there is now the pain of losing their dearest, mixed with gratitude for their own survival.

"My time hadn't yet arrived - it was Allah's order," says Muaziza Ambaraje.

Additional reporting by Jose Tembe and César Gatoma