Tanzanian plane crash-lands into Lake Victoria, 19 passengers dead

Nairobi, November 6

A Precision Air flight, carrying 43 persons, made a crash-landing into Lake Victoria on Sunday while attempting to reach a nearby airport in Bukoba, Tanzania.

At least 19 people were killed when the plane operated by Tanzania’s Precision Air crash-landed into Lake Victoria on approach to the lakeside city of Bukoba, the country's prime minister said.

“All Tanzanians join you in mourning these 19 people who have lost their lives,” Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa told reporters in Bukoba.

Flight PW494, which departed from the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, “crash landed” into the lake as it was approaching the lakeside city of Bukoba, Precision Air added.

The cause was not immediately clear, but the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) said the incident took place amid storms and heavy rains. A witness told the media that he saw the plane flying unsteadily as it approached the airport in poor visibility conditions and took a turn for the airport but went into the lake.

Video and pictures circulating on social media showed the plane almost fully submerged, with only its green and brown-coloured tail visible above the water line of Africa’s largest lake.

Rescue boats were deployed, and emergency workers were trying to pull trapped passengers out of the plane. Several footages showed scores of residents standing along the shoreline and others wading into the shallow waters, as rescuers carried on with their efforts. Rescue workers were in touch with the pilots and were trying to pull the plane out of the lake. — Agencies