Ferry sinks in Tanzania's Lake Victoria, at least 40 dead: state media

Fishermen rescuing victims of the tragedy. [Photo: Courtesy]

Several have died after a passenger ferry capsized on Thursday in Tanzania’s Lake Victoria, state radio said, as operations to rescue survivors got under way.

The boat, the MV Nyerere, sank during the afternoon just a few meters from the dock in the Ukerewe district, national ferry services operator TEMESA said.

The service had yet to establish how many passengers were on board, spokeswoman Theresia Mwami said. State radio said 26 people had been rescued.

State radio reports that atleast 10 people have died after the incident. However, AFP has reported that the number of those who died may have surpassed 40. Other reports also indicate that hundreds could be missing since the ferry was overloaded with close to 400 people.

Mwami said TEMESA had carried out maintenance on the ferry in recent months, overhauling two engines.

In 1996, a ferry disaster on Lake Victoria in the same region killed at least 500 people.

In 2012, at least 145 people died in a ferry disaster in Tanzania’s semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean, on a vessel that was overcrowded.