MAMOUDZOU, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - Two planes and five patrol boats were Wednesday searching choppy waters off the French Indian Ocean island Mayotte for survivors of a shipwreck that left six migrants dead, officials said.

MUTSAMADU, March 26, 2008 (AFP) - The fugitive rebel leader of the Comoros island of Anjouan fled Wednesday to the nearby French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte where he demanded asylum, a well-placed source said.

MORONI, Dec 5, 2007 (AFP) - The Comoros on Wednesday demanded an explanation from the Mayotte authorities following a collision in the Indian Ocean that involved a French coastguard patrol and left two Comoran migrants dead.

MAMOUDZOU, France, Dec 4, 2007 (AFP) - Two migrants were killed and another eight were missing Tuesday after their boat collided with a coastguard patrol off the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte and capsized, officials said.

MORONI, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - Five people drowned in the Indian Ocean when a boat carrying illegal migrants from the Comoros to the French island of Mayotte capsized, officials said.

The boat capsized on Tuesday off the coast Bambao Mtsanga, a village on the eastern coast of the Comoros island of Anjouan.

'A shipwreck took place off Bambao Mstanga,' Anjouan transport minister Mohammed Abdu Mahdi told AFP.

MORONI, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - At least four people died and around 15 were missing Wednesday after a boat carrying illegal migrants capsized off the Comoros coast in the Indian ocean, officials said.

The boat capsized on Tuesday off the coast Bambao Mtsanga, a village on the eastern coast of the Comoros island of Anjouan.

'A shipwreck took place off Bambao Mstanga. Four bodies were recovered and buried but around 15 people are still missing,' Anjouan transport minister Mohammed Abdu Mahdi told AFP.

MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte, Aug 13, 2007 (AFP) - Seventeen people, including eight children, were confirmed dead and 19 missing Monday after a boat carrying illegal migrants capsized off the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, police said.

Four survivors were plucked from the waters and evacuated to a hospital in the east of Mayotte, while a land, sea and air rescue operation was under way to try to recover the rest of the passengers.

MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte, July 23, 2007 (AFP) - Two migrants were confirmed dead and up to 27 missing on Monday after their boat went down in rough waters off the remote French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, officials said.

Between 25 and 37 people were thought to be on board the vessel, which set sail from the nearby Comoros Islands but was wrecked overnight Saturday outside a lagoon off northern Mayotte, the prefecture said.