Rescue services rescue passengers from the crashed plane in Lake Victoria in Tanzania this Sunday.EFE
At least 19 people have died when a plane crashed into Lake Victoria in Tanzania this Sunday, the country’s Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa confirmed to the media. The plane, owned by Tanzanian company Precision Air, and carrying 39 passengers – 38 adults and one minor – and four crew members had a weather accident that caused it to crash in Africa’s largest lake.
“Precision Air Flight No. PW 494, which flew in between [las ciudades de] Dar es Salaam [la capital comercial del país] and Bukoba, was involved in an accident while approaching Bukoba Airport,” the company said in a brief statement published on the social network Twitter. The airline confirmed in a second message that 26 passengers were rescued and taken to hospital had been brought without giving any information about their condition.
By the time of the prime minister’s comments, the country’s state broadcaster had reported on Twitter that there had been three deaths. “We send our condolences to those who lost their loved ones and to all Tanzanians for this incident that has claimed the lives of 19 people,” said Majaliwa, who traveled to the scene of the incident.
The cause of the accident is not yet clear, but Tanzanian national broadcaster TBC pointed out that the plane crashed in “heavy rain and strong winds”. A witness told TBC he saw the plane fly unsteadily on approach to the airport in poor visibility and what he felt was that it veered to approach the runway and headed for the lake instead. Precision Air, the country’s largest private airline, identified the aircraft as an ATR42-500.
Videos broadcast on social networks show the plane almost completely submerged and surrounded by speedboats conducting the rescue.
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Rescue workers assist a passenger.STR (EFE)
Local residents are watching the rescue efforts. SITES PROTASE (AFP)
Members of the emergency services work to rescue passengers from the crashed plane in Lake Victoria this Sunday.STR (EFE)
Rescuers collect debris from fuselage of SITIDE PROTASE (AFP) aircraft
Before the death toll was known, the country’s President, Samia Saluhu Hassan, lamented the incident and called for calm in a message also published on Twitter. “It is with regret that I received the news of the Precision plane crash in Lake Victoria in the Kagera region. My condolences to all those affected by the accident. Let’s keep calm while the rescue operation goes on and we ask Allah to help us,” she wrote.
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