France rushes aid to cyclone-hit Mayotte

At least 14 people were killed in the French territory. Pic/AFP

France was rushing help by ship and military aircraft to its poor overseas territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean on Monday after the island was shattered by its worst storm in nearly a century.

Authorities in Mayotte fear hundreds and possibly thousands of people have died in Cyclone Chido, although the official death toll on Monday morning stood at 14. Rescue teams and medical personnel have been sent to the island off the east coast of Africa from France and from the nearby French territory of Reunion, as well as tons of supplies.

French television station TF1 reported on Monday morning that Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau had arrived in Mamoudzou, the capital of Mayotte. "It will take days and days to establish the human toll," he told French media.

Over 800 more personnel are expected to arrive in the coming days as rescuers comb through the devastation caused by Chido when it hit the densely populated archipelago of around 300,000 people on Saturday.

Mayotte Prefect François-Xavier Bieuville, the top French government official in Mayotte, said on Sunday that the death toll could even be in the thousands.

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