They swam for about 12 hours to shore after their helicopter crashed.

It happened in the north-east of Madagascar: protagonist Serge Gelle, secretary of state for the police, and with him another survivor, according to local authorities.

On the other hand, searches for the other two passengers who were with them on the aircraft, which crashed for reasons still to be clarified, are still in progress.

Gelle and the other passenger, a policeman, landed in the seaside town of Mahambo this morning, it seems after jumping out of the aircraft, said Jean-Edmond Randrianantenaina, head of the port authority. In a video shared on social media, 57-year-old Gelle appears exhausted in a lounge chair, still in his camouflage uniform.

"My time to die has not yet come," said the general, adding that he is cold but not hurt.

Gelle, after serving in the police for 30 years, became minister in a cabinet reshuffle last August. The helicopter was taking him and others to inspect the site where a boat sank off the northeastern coast yesterday morning, killing at least 21 people and about 60 missing, according to the latest data today.

(Unioneonline / vl)

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