By Nuzulack Dausen DAR ES SALAAM, Sept 20 (Reuters)– At the very least 42 individuals sank when a ferryboat sank on Thursday in Tanzania’s Lake Victoria and also federal government authorities was afraid the last casualty might be greater than 200, an elderly regional authorities stated.

Ukerewe District Commissioner Colonel Lucas Magembe informed Reuters that the rescue goal to locate survivors from the catastrophe had actually been stopped up until occur to Friday with 42 individuals verified dead.

Initial price quotes revealed that the MV Nyerere was lugging greater than 300 individuals onboard. It dropped in the mid-day simply a couple of meters from the dock in Ukerewe area, according to nationwide ferryboat solutions driver TEMESA stated.

But it was difficult to develop the accurate variety of guests aboard because the individual giving tickets had actually likewise sunk with the device videotaping the information shed.

TEMESA spokesperson Theresia Mwami stated the driver had actually accomplished upkeep on the ferryboat in current months, upgrading 2 engines.

In 1996, a ferryboat catastrophe on Lake Victoria in the very same area eliminated at the very least 500 individuals.

In 2012, at the very least 145 individuals passed away in a ferryboat catastrophe in Tanzania’s semi-autonomous island chain of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean, on a vessel that was jammed.

(Reporting by Nuzulack Dausen; Additional coverage by George Obulutsa in Nairobi; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

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