At least 40 dead as ferry built to carry 100 ‘with 400 passengers on board’ capsizes on Tanzania’s Lake Victoria
- A government spokesperson confirmed there had been 40 deaths on Thursday
- Pictures showed rescuers and civilians scrambling to help those in the water
- The boat had been going between the islands of Bugolora and Ukara, Tanzania
- According to one source the MV Nyerere was only built to hold 105 passengers
- Another source told the BBC there had been around 400 people on board it
At least 40 people have died after a ferry carrying more than 100 people capsized on Lake Victoria in Tanzania.
Rescuers were frantically searching for those trapped on board the MV Nyerere on Thursday evening after the boat began to sank en route between the island of Bugolora and Ukara.
A source told the BBC that despite the fact the MV Nyerere was only built for 105 people, there were more than 400 passengers on board when it sank.
Hundreds are feared missing as the Tanzanian government has yet to release the official figure for the number of people believed to have been on the ferry
The MV Nyere (pictured before disaster) was built to carry 105 people, but a source told the BBC that around 400 had been travelling on board when it capsized
The Tanzanian government has confirmed the ferry capsized but exact figures for those on board are yet to be confirmed.
A spokesperson confirmed 40 people had died in the tragedy – with the number expected to rise.
‘According to reports that President John Magufuli has just received from the authorities in Mwanza, the toll now stands at more than 40 dead,’ Gerson Msigwa, the president’s spokesman, said on state television.
Civilians and official rescuers were said to be frantically working together to help the survivors of the disaster.
The Citizen of Tanzania reported that fishermen rescued about 20 people immediately after the incident.
Rescuers from the Tanzanian emergency services and civilians worked frantically to haul survivors out of the water
Thousands of people gathered to watch the unfolding disaster from the banks of Lake Victoria on Thursday
Tanzania’s Electrical, Mechanical and Services Agency spokeswoman Theresia Mwami said so far they had not established the exact number of passengers who were on board.
‘We pray to God to give us hope in such an accident,’ Regional Commissioner Adam Malima told reporters.
‘We pray to God to give us hope that there has not been a high death toll.’
In 2012, at least 145 people died in a ferry disaster in the semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean, on a vessel that was overcrowded.
The boats hull could be seen floating above the water after the MV Nyerere completely overturned near the shore
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