Death toll rises in Madagascar storm

"The toll issued this morning at 8:00 (0500 GMT) is 23 dead, five missing, 16 injured and 3,722 homeless," Farah Rasoarimamonjy, an official at the Indian Ocean island's national rescue council, told AFP.

He spoke as the storm was reported to be once again crossing the island, hitting the south early on Wednesday.

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Officials in the Comoros Islands, located northwest of Madagascar, meanwhile said they still had no news of the ferry, the Samson.

The ferry left the Comoros port of Moutsamoudou for Madagascar at the weekend, but has not been heard from since it had been unable to put into its destination port on Sunday night.