The Madagascar Authority on Monday has said at least nine people dead and an unknown number are missing after a passenger boat collided with a cargo vessel on a river in North-West Madagascar.

The River and Maritime Port Agency (APMF) said children were among the 35 people aboard the eight-metre (26-feet) boat when the collision occurred on Sunday evening on the Loza river near Antsohihy. 

Some passengers managed to swim ashore but others are unaccounted for.

The APMF Director-General Jean-Edmond Randrianantenaina while speaking with Newsmen said “We don’t know yet what happened to the other passengers, Rescue operations are still underway.’’

The Agency said the  passenger boat was sailing from Ambiky when it was rammed by a cargo dhow and sank immediately.

Randrianantenaina said the accident may have been caused by lack of lighting on the passenger boat, adding that Police are questioning the crew.

“The cargo ship fled after the collision, but we caught up with it.’’

Last December a boat sank off Madagascar’s North-Eastern Coast, claiming 88 lives, most of them seasonal workers returning home after harvesting cloves.