An aerial image shows the capsized ferry MV Nyerere Photo: AFP

                   SEPTEMBER 22nd, 2018

By Patryk Krych | The World Daily

Ferry capsized in Tanzania, 136 dead and many still missing

Last Thursday, a ferryboat named MV Nyerere had capsized in Tanzania’s Lake Victoria, and so far, up to 136 bodies of the 300 estimated passengers have been found, reported top police official Simon Sirro on Friday. Many more, however, are still missing, with only 37 people having been successfully rescued.

The incident had occurred only a few metres off from the dock in Ukerewe; Lake Victoria’s largest island, also located in Tanzania. Jonathan Shana, the regional police commander for the port of Mwanza (located on the south coast of the Lake Victoria) told Reuters last Friday via phone of the 37 survivors they had rescued – a shockingly small number in all regards- and that more rescuers had come and joined the operation a day later, after sunrise, but as of yet there are still many people missing.

With the ships crew being among the lost, it is difficult to tell exactly how many had been aboard the ferry. Much equipment had gone as well, leaving very little room for precision in the case. Despite the boat being able to carry only 100 people, the 300-400 predicted passengers on board ought to have been a validated safety violation.

Very recently, Tanzanian President John Magufuli had said that the captain of the overloaded is in custody, and anyone else found alive and responsible will share the same fate. The president went on to state that to the entire nation, during an address on Friday, that the captain had knowingly left the ferry's steering in the hands of a crew member who was not trained for the task.

Though there are, for good reason, many speculations that the overloading of passengers is what’s responsible for the incident, the president had mentioned that an investigation will also be made for a more thorough report and affirmation.

This is not the country’s first major fairy incident, however, with one back in 1996 whereupon nearly 500 people were killed in the very same lake due to capsizing, and another later in 2012, with a death count of 145 people when their ferry sank off the shore of the country’s Indian Ocean archipelago of Zanzibar.

By Patryk Krych | The World Daily

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