Survivor found in capsized Tanzania ferry; toll at 209
NAIROBI : The death toll soared to 209 while a survivor was found inside a capsized Tanzania ferry two days after the Lake Victoria disaster, officials said on Saturday, while search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies.
The survivor, an engineer, was found near the engine of the upturned vessel, Mwanza regional commissioner John Mongella told reporters. The Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation, which reported the new death toll, said he had shut himself into the engine room. His condition was not immediately known.
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.
No one knows 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.
“This is a great disaster for our nation,” Magufuli told the nation in a televised address late Friday, announcing four days of national mourning.
Pope Francis, the United Nations secretary-general, Russian President Vladimir Putin and a number of African leaders have expressed shock and sorrow.
The MV Nyerere, named for the former president who led the East African nation to independence, was travelling between the islands of Ukara and Ukerewe 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.