The death toll has risen above 100 after a ferry capsized and sank on Lake Victoria, Tanzania state radio reported.

The toll is likely to rise further as search and rescue operations continue after Thursday afternoon’s disaster, John Mongella, commissioner for the Mwanza region, said on Friday.

At least 37 people were rescued from the sunken ferry as of Thursday evening, when rescue teams called off their mission overnight.

It is not clear how many people were on board.

Such ferries often carry hundreds of people and are overcrowded.

No foreigners have been found among the dead, Mwanza police commander Jonathan Shanna said on Friday.

The passenger ferry MV Nyerere was travelling between Ukara and Bugolora when it sank, according to the government agency in charge of servicing the vessels.

Accidents are often reported on the large freshwater lake surrounded by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

Some of the deadliest have occurred in Tanzania, where passenger boats are often said to be old and in poor condition.

In 1996, more than 800 people were killed when the passenger and cargo ferry MV Bukoba sank on Lake Victoria.

Nearly 200 people died in 2011 when the MV Spice Islander I sank off Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast near Zanzibar.</s>The upturned passenger ferry MV Nyerere floats in the water near Ukara Island in Lake Victoria.

The upturned passenger ferry MV Nyerere floats in the water near Ukara Island in Lake Victoria.

THE DEATH TOLL after a ferry capsized in Lake Victoria has risen to 151, state-run TV station TBC said as rescue workers pressed on with the search to find scores more people feared drowned.

Late last night, the toll had stood at 131, with 40 people known to have survived after the MV Nyerere capsized close to the pier on Ukara Island on Thursday.

The vessel may have been carrying as many as 200 passengers – double the ferry’s capacity – according to reports on state media.

Tanzanian President John Magufuli yesterday ordered the arrest of the management of the ferry.

Witnesses reached by AFP said the ferry sank when passengers rushed to one side to disembark as it approached the dock.

In a speech broadcast on TBC 1 public television, Magufuli said “it appears clear that the ferry was overloaded”, adding that “negligence has cost us so many lives… children, mothers, students, old people”.

“I ordered the arrest of all those involved in the management of the ferry. The arrests have already begun,” he added.

The president declared four days of national mourning and said the government would cover the funeral expenses of the victims.

Hopes are fading that more survivors might still be found.

Footage shows a person on the shore watching the search and rescue of people standing on the capsized hull of the ferry. Source: AP/PA Images

State television cited witnesses reporting that more than 200 people had boarded the ferry at Bugolora, a town on the larger Ukerewe Island, where it was market day when locals said the vessel was usually packed with people and goods.

“I have not heard from either my father or my younger brother who were on the ferry. They had gone to the market in Bugolora to buy a school uniform and other supplies for the new school term,” said Domina Maua, who was among those seeking information about loved ones.

Davita Ngenda, an elderly woman in Ukara, had already received bad news.

“My son is among the bodies recovered,” she said, weeping. “He had gone with his wife but she has not been found yet. My God, what did I do to deserve this?”

Sebastian John, a teacher, said such tragedies had become part of life for those living on the lake.

“Since my birth, people have gone to their deaths on this lake, but what are we to do? We did not choose to be born here, we have nowhere to go,” he said.

Tanzania’s Electrical, Mechanical and Services Agency, which is responsible for ferry services, said it was unknown how many passengers were aboard the MV Nyerere.

The ageing ferry, whose hull and propellers were all that remained visible after it overturned, was also carrying cargo, including sacks of maize, bananas and cement, when it capsized around 50 metres (55 yards) from Ukara dock.

The cause of the accident was not immediately clear, but overloading is frequently to blame for such incidents.

The country’s opposition has accused the government of “negligence”.

“We have often raised concerns about the poor condition of this ferry, but the government turned a deaf ear. We have repeatedly denounced this negligence,” said John Mnyika, deputy secretary general of Chadema, the main opposition party.

Mnyika said overloading was “another failure of the authorities” and criticised “inadequate relief efforts as well as delays” in the rescue operation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Uganda and Kenya offered their condolences, while Pope Francis in a statement expressed “the greatest solidarity with those who have been bereaved” by the disaster.

With a surface area of 70,000 square kilometres, oval-shaped Lake Victoria is roughly the size of Ireland and is shared by Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

Capsizes are not uncommon in the massive lake, and the number of fatalities is often high due to a shortage of life jackets and the fact that many people in the region cannot swim.

The deadliest such accident in recent decades was in May 1996, when around 800 people died after their ferry sank on the way to Mwanza in Tanzania.</s>TANZANIA — The captain of an overloaded ferry that capsized on Lake Victoria has been arrested as Tanzania mourns more than 200 people killed in the latest maritime disaster in the East African nation.

Tanzanian President John Magufuli said the captain is in custody and ordered the arrest of all the other operators of the ferry, which capsized Thursday.

Magufuli told the nation in an address Friday that the captain left the ferry’s steering in the hands of a person not trained for the job, The Citizen newspaper reported. The death toll rose to 209 on Saturday, government spokesman Hassan Abbas told CNN, but it’s expected to go up as more bodies are pulled out of the water.

Initial reports indicated that overloading contributed to the deadly disaster, but an investigation will determine the exact cause, the Tanzanian leader said.

It’s unclear how many passengers were aboard the ferry. There are reports it had a capacity to carry 100 people, and it was carrying an estimated 400 instead.

Rescuers worked for hours to pull survivors out of the frigid waters Thursday and Friday, and they are still searching for hundreds who were likely onboard the overcrowded ferry.

“It’s been a bit difficult because of the fact that the ferry overturned with people and luggage,” Transport Minister Isack Kamwele said. “We have to remove the luggage first to get to the bodies.”

An engineer from the ferry was among the people rescued Saturday, the state-run Tanzania Broadcasting Corp. reported. He was among eight engineers aboard the ferry when it capsized, and he’d locked himself inside the engine room since Thursday.

‘He … said he was in trouble’

Fisherman Maulid Musa said he received a phone call from a friend aboard the ferry moments before it capsized.

“He called me and said he was in trouble,” Musa told The Citizen. “That the boat he was traveling in was about to sink. I tried to ask him what was happening. He said all the passengers on board had moved to one side of the boat. Then the phone went off.”

Musa said he tried to rush to the scene to help, but there were no boats going there. He found out Friday his friend had died.

The ferry was traveling from Bugolora to Ukara Island when it capsized 200 meters (about 650 feet) from its destination. Thursday is a market day on the island, and many passengers were traveling to Gulio market there.

Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa, straddling the borders of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

Ferries in Tanzania are often overcrowded, with the lack of an accurate passenger manifest, complicating rescue operations. The disaster highlights the issue of dangerous overcrowding on ferries in the region.

In 2011, some 200 people were killed after an overloaded vessel — carrying more than 1,000 passengers despite an official capacity of 620 — hit strong winds off the island of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean.</s>The death toll after a ferry capsized in Lake Victoria has risen to 151, state-run TV station TBC said Saturday as rescue workers pressed on with the search to find scores more people feared drowned.

Late Friday, the toll had stood at 131, with 40 people known to have survived after the MV Nyerere capsized close to the pier on Ukara Island on Thursday.

The vessel may have been carrying as many as 200 passengers — double the ferry’s capacity — according to reports on state media.

Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Friday ordered the arrest of the management of the ferry.

Witnesses reached by AFP said the ferry sank when passengers rushed to one side to disembark as it approached the dock.

In a speech broadcast on TBC 1 public television, Magufuli said “it appears clear that the ferry was overloaded”, adding that “negligence has cost us so many lives… children, mothers, students, old people”.

“I ordered the arrest of all those involved in the management of the ferry. The arrests have already begun,” he added.

The president declared four days of national mourning and said the government would cover the funeral expenses of the victims.

Hopes are fading that more survivors might still be found.

State television cited witnesses reporting that more than 200 people had boarded the ferry at Bugolora, a town on the larger Ukerewe Island, where it was a market day when locals said the vessel was usually packed with people and goods.

“I have not heard from either my father or my younger brother who were on the ferry. They had gone to the market in Bugolora to buy a school uniform and other supplies for the new school term,” said Domina Maua, who was among those seeking information about loved ones.

Davita Ngenda, an elderly woman in Ukara, had already received bad news.

“My son is among the bodies recovered,” she said, weeping. “He had gone with his wife but she has not been found yet. My God, what did I do to deserve this?”

Sebastian John, a teacher, said such tragedies had become part of life for those living on the lake.

“Since my birth, people have gone to their deaths on this lake, but what are we to do? We did not choose to be born here, we have nowhere to go,” he said.

Tanzania’s Electrical, Mechanical and Services Agency, which is responsible for ferry services, said it was unknown how many passengers were aboard the MV Nyerere.

The ageing ferry, whose hull and propellers were all that remained visible after it overturned, was also carrying cargo, including sacks of maize, bananas and cement, when it capsized around 50 metres (55 yards) from Ukara dock.

The cause of the accident was not immediately clear, but overloading is frequently to blame for such incidents.

The country’s opposition has accused the government of “negligence”.

“We have often raised concerns about the poor condition of this ferry, but the government turned a deaf ear. We have repeatedly denounced this negligence,” said John Mnyika, deputy secretary general of Chadema, the main opposition party.

Mnyika said overloading was “another failure of the authorities” and criticised “inadequate relief efforts as well as delays” in the rescue operation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Uganda and Kenya offered their condolences, while Pope Francis in a statement expressed “the greatest solidarity with those who have been bereaved” by the disaster.

With a surface area of 70,000 square kilometres (27,000 square miles), oval-shaped Lake Victoria is roughly the size of Ireland and is shared by Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

Capsizes are not uncommon in the massive lake, and the number of fatalities is often high due to a shortage of life jackets and the fact that many people in the region cannot swim.

The deadliest such accident in recent decades was in May 1996, when around 800 people died after their ferry sank on the way to Mwanza in Tanzania.</s>Kampala, Uganda (AP) — Hundreds of solemn people watched Friday as body after body was pulled from a capsized ferry that Tanzanian authorities said was badly overcrowded and upended in the final stretch before reaching shore. The death toll was above 130 but horrified witnesses feared that would rise as a second day of searching neared an end.

“This is a great disaster for our nation,” President John Magufuli said. He announced four days of national mourning and urged calm in the East African country with a history of deadly maritime disasters. And he ordered arrests of all responsible as a criminal investigation began.

In a televised address, the president said the ferry captain already had been detained after leaving the steering to someone who wasn’t properly trained, The Citizen newspaper reported.

The MV Nyerere’s capacity was 101 people but the ferry had been overloaded when it capsized Thursday afternoon, the government’s Chief Secretary John Kijazi told reporters.

At least 40 people had been rescued, he said, but the number on Friday barely rose. Dozens of security forces and volunteers wearing gloves and face masks had resumed work at daybreak after suspending efforts overnight, hauling bodies into wooden boats.

“More than 200 people are feared dead,” based on accounts from fishermen and other witnesses, because passengers had been returning from a busy market day, Tanzania Red Cross spokeswoman Godfrida Jola told The Associated Press. “But no one knows” just how many people were on board.

It was obvious that more bodies were trapped in the overturned ferry, the president said, according to The Citizen report. He said even the cargo far exceeded the 25 tons allowed.

Tanzanian ferries often carry hundreds of passengers and are overcrowded, and shifts in weight as people move to disembark can become deadly. Images from the scene showed the ferry’s exposed underside not far from shore.

Bodies were lined up on plastic sheeting as hundreds of people pressed near the water’s edge, watching the search efforts.

Pope Francis, the United Nations secretary-general, Russian President Vladimir Putin and a number of African leaders expressed shock and sorrow.

“His Holiness Pope Francis expresses his heartfelt solidarity with those who mourn the loss of their loved ones and who fear for the lives of those still missing,” the condolence telegram said, according to the Vatican.

The MV Nyerere, named for the former president who led the East African nation to independence, was traveling between the islands of Ukara and Ukerewe when it sank, according to the government agency in charge of servicing the vessels.

Worried residents on Friday waited for any word of survivors.

“We try to make calls to friends, relatives,” a local guide, Paschal Phares, told the AP. He recalled how crowded his trip on the aging ferry had been last month: “Most of us were standing up. It was full.”

Accidents are often reported on the large freshwater lake surrounded by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Some of the deadliest have occurred in Tanzania, where passenger boats are often said to be old and in poor condition.

In 1996, more than 800 people died when passenger and cargo ferry MV Bukoba sank on Lake Victoria.

Nearly 200 people died in 2011 when the MV Spice Islander I sank off Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast near Zanzibar.</s>NAIROBI, Kenya — Death toll in Tanzania ferry disaster rises to 167, official says, as coffins arrive at scene .

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>A survivor has been found inside a capsized Tanzanian ferry two days after the disaster on Lake Victoria, an official said Saturday, while coffins arrived for at least 167 victims and counting.

An engineer was found near the engine of the upturned vessel, Mwanza regional commissioner John Mongella told reporters.

The survivor’s condition was not immediately clear.

Search efforts continued around the ferry’s exposed underside as families of victims prepared to claim the dead.

No one knows how many people were on board the ferry, which had a capacity of 101. Officials on Friday said at least 40 people had been rescued.

The government’s chief secretary John Kijazi announced the rising death toll to reporters after President John Magufuli ordered the arrests of those responsible.

“This is a great disaster for our nation,” Magufuli said, announcing four days of national mourning.

The badly overloaded ferry capsized in the final stretch before shore on Thursday afternoon as people returning from a busy market day shifted and prepared to disembark.

Horrified fishermen and other witnesses have expressed fear that more than 200 could have died.</s>NAIROBI, Kenya — The death toll soared past 200 while a survivor was found inside a capsized Tanzania ferry two days after the Lake Victoria disaster, officials said Saturday, while search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies.

The survivor, an engineer, was found near the engine of the overturned vessel, Mwanza regional commissioner John Mongella told reporters. The Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation, which reported the death toll, said he had shut himself into the engine room. His condition was not immediately known.

Colorfully painted coffins arrived, and the work would now focus on identifying bodies, Tanzania's defence chief Venance Mabeyo told reporters at the scene. Families of victims gathered and prepared to claim the dead.

One woman dropped to her knees in the sand next to the covered body of her sister and wept.

"We have found him after three days and now we are transporting his body to Kamasi for burial," said Temeni Katebarira, the brother of one victim.

Mass graves were dug, and workers continued to haul the dead from the water. Abandoned shoes were scattered on the shore.

"From morning till now we have retrieved more than 58 bodies. This includes both children and adults," said TropistaTemi, a Red Cross volunteer. "Because of the congestion we have not been able to do full totalling. Later, we will do a full tally."

But the total number of deaths might never be known. No one is sure how many people had been on board the badly overloaded ferry, which officials said had a capacity of 101. It capsized in the final stretch before shore on Thursday afternoon as people returning from a busy market day prepared to disembark, while horrified fishermen and others watched.

Officials on Friday said at least 40 people had been rescued.

President John Magufuli has ordered the arrests of those responsible. He said the ferry captain already had been detained after leaving the steering to someone who wasn't properly trained, The Citizen newspaper reported.</s>(CNN) – The captain of an overloaded ferry that capsized on Lake Victoria has been arrested as Tanzania mourns more than 200 people killed in the latest maritime disaster in the East African nation.

Tanzanian President John Magufuli said the captain is in custody and ordered the arrest of all the other operators of the ferry, which capsized Thursday.

Magufuli told the nation in an address Friday that the captain left the ferry’s steering in the hands of a person not trained for the job, The Citizen newspaper reported. The death toll rose to 209 on Saturday, government spokesman Hassan Abbas told CNN, but it’s expected to go up as more bodies are pulled out of the water.

Initial reports indicated that overloading contributed to the deadly disaster, but an investigation will determine the exact cause, the Tanzanian leader said.

It’s unclear how many passengers were aboard the ferry. There are reports it had a capacity to carry 100 people, and it was carrying an estimated 400 instead.

Rescuers worked for hours to pull survivors out of the frigid waters Thursday and Friday, and they are still searching for hundreds who were likely onboard the overcrowded ferry.

“It’s been a bit difficult because of the fact that the ferry overturned with people and luggage,” Transport Minister Isack Kamwele said. “We have to remove the luggage first to get to the bodies.”

An engineer from the ferry was among the people rescued Saturday, the state-run Tanzania Broadcasting Corp. reported. He was among eight engineers aboard the ferry when it capsized, and he’d locked himself inside the engine room since Thursday.

‘He … said he was in trouble’

Fisherman Maulid Musa said he received a phone call from a friend aboard the ferry moments before it capsized.

“He called me and said he was in trouble,” Musa told The Citizen. “That the boat he was traveling in was about to sink. I tried to ask him what was happening. He said all the passengers on board had moved to one side of the boat. Then the phone went off.”

Musa said he tried to rush to the scene to help, but there were no boats going there. He found out Friday his friend had died.

The ferry was traveling from Bugolora to Ukara Island when it capsized 200 meters (about 650 feet) from its destination. Thursday is a market day on the island, and many passengers were traveling to Gulio market there.

Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa, straddling the borders of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

Ferries in Tanzania are often overcrowded, with the lack of an accurate passenger manifest, complicating rescue operations. The disaster highlights the issue of dangerous overcrowding on ferries in the region.

In 2011, some 200 people were killed after an overloaded vessel — carrying more than 1,000 passengers despite an official capacity of 620 — hit strong winds off the island of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean.</s>A man has been found alive inside a capsized Tanzanian ferry two days after the disaster on Lake Victoria, while the official death toll rose above 200.

The engineer was found near the engine of the upturned vessel, Mwanza regional commissioner John Mongella said. He is understood to have shut himself inside the engine room when the vessel turned over.

But despite that rescue, officials said search efforts on the ferry are now ending so work can focus on identifying the 209 bodies found so far. Families of victims have gathered at the scene to claim the dead.

It is not known how many people were on board the overloaded ferry, which had a capacity of 101, when it capsized on the final stretch before shore on Thursday afternoon as passengers moved around to prepare to disembark.

President John Magufuli has ordered the arrests of those responsible for what he called a “great disaster for our nation”.
The death toll of the MV Nyerere sinking in Lake Victoria, Tanzania, rises to 207. Several people are still missing.