ANTANANARIVO, March 11 (AFP) - Cyclone Gafilo was downgraded to a moderate storm and about to leave Madagascar on Thursday after leaving 32 confirmed dead, 155 missing and thousands others injured or homeless, local meteorological services said.

Meteorologist Sahondra Raveloarisoa said the storm was blowing at 75 kilometres (46 miles) per hour with gusts of up to 100 kph.

"It is just now a moderate tropical storm," she said, and "it will leave the shore softly in the course of the morning and disappear southwards into the Indian Ocean."

At the week-end, Gafilo caused 32 deaths and left 42 people unaccounted for, 11 injured and 6,088 homeless in the north of the island, the Madagascan rescue services said.

Another 113 people were on board a Comoran ferry, the Samson, which went missing north of Madagascar and "most probably sank", according to Comoran government official.

A senior French navy official in the nearby island of Reunion said he was "very pessimistic" about the fate of the ferry, but authorities in northwestern Madagascar refused to confirm that it had sunk and said the search for survivors would go on.

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Copyright (c) 2004 Agence France-Presse
Received by NewsEdge Insight: 03/11/2004 03:54:05