TWENTY-five people are feared dead after their boat sank off the east coast of Madagascar last week, including 18 players and officials from a local soccer club and two Frenchmen, officials said on Monday. The boat sank on Thursday with some 41 people on board, including nine crew members, while it was travelling from Soanierana-Ivongo on the mainland to the picturesque tourist island of Sainte-Marie, around 40km away. Fourteen survivors were picked up on Friday, and two were washed ashore alive but ”in critical condition” on Monday after nearly four days clinging to jerry cans and other flotsam in the Indian Ocean waters, officials said. News of the sinking first came out on Friday, but details have been slow to emerge on the Indian Ocean island where communications are poor. The boat, the Samsonnette, was 15 years old and riddled with rust, and started shipping water after it was struck by a large wave. The boat had no radio to call for help. – Reuters