Passenger plane crashes carrying 43 people into Lake Victoria in Tanzania
A plane carrying 43 people has plunged into Lake Victoria in Tanzania after it was affected by bad weather- 100 yards short of the airport where it was due to land, killing at least three people.
Precision Air flight PW 494 was scheduled to fly from Dar es Salaam to Bukoba airport carrying 39 passengers, two pilots and two cabin crew.
The bodies of the three people who have died have been recovered from the scene. According to the BBC, the pilots survived the crash but are trapped inside the cockpit.
The Precision Air plane is almost completely submerged in the water- only the brown and green tail fin is above the water.
Regional commissioner Albert Chalamila said that 26 people have so far been rescued from the small passenger plane and taken to hospital.
Mr Chalamila said: ‘The rescue operation is still ongoing and we are communicating with the pilots.’
Footage online shows rescuers, including fishermen, wading through water to bring people to safety as the rescue continues.
Emergency services are attempting to lift the aircraft out of the water using ropes, assisted by cranes and local residents.
Mr Chalamila said: ‘We want to see if the landing gear is stuck so that we can ask for more technical assistance to push it out of the waters.’
The aircraft was an ATR-42, manufactured by Toulouse-based Franco-Italian firm ATR.
A statement was released by the airline, confirming the accident, saying: ‘The rescue team has been dispatched to the scene and more information will be released in two hours time.’
Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan expressed her condolences to those affected by the accident.
She tweeted: ‘Let’s continue to be calm while the rescue operation continues as we pray to God to help us.’
Also expressing their condolences was the African Union Commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat, who wrote on Twitter: ‘Our hearts and prayers go to the families of passengers on-board a plane that crashed into Lake Victoria, with our full solidarity to the Government & people of #Tanzania.’
Elsewhere, the secretary general of the regional East African Community bloc, Peter Mathuki, said: ‘The East African Community joins and sends our condolences to Mama Samia Suluhu Hassan, families and friends of all those who were affected by the Precision Air plane accident.’
Precision Air is partly owned by Kenya Airways and was founded in 1993. It operates domestic and regional flights as well as private charters to popular tourist destinations such as the Serengeti National Park and the Zanzibar archipelago.