Post by Retrovision on Apr 28, 2006 7:23:24 GMT -8
From: news.bbc.co.uk/
At least 27 people are feared to have drowned in Tanzania, when their boat capsized in a storm on Lake Victoria.
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The ferry had set off last weekend from the town of Bukoba on the lake's western shore, heavily loaded with crates of beer and soft drinks.
It then disappeared. Local police chief Ignas Mbinga said the news had only just been made public because the region was so remote.
He said divers were searching the area, but they had yet to recover any bodies.
Such accidents are fairly common on Africa's largest lake, where boats are often overcrowded.
Earlier this month 36 people drowned when the Lion of Judah sank during a storm in the same area.
Boats not inspected
Tanzania's authorities say this boat had flouted many regulations and had not even kept a passenger list.
Israel Sekilasa Director General of the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (Sumatra) said that his organisation did not have the manpower to monitor all the country's boats.
The BBC's Vicky Ntetema in Tanzania says this revelation will come as a surprise to many, especially after more than 800 people died in 1996, when MV Bukoba capsized.
However, Sumatra says that bigger vessels are inspected on a regular basis.
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© BBC MMVI
At least 27 people are feared to have drowned in Tanzania, when their boat capsized in a storm on Lake Victoria.
_____________
The ferry had set off last weekend from the town of Bukoba on the lake's western shore, heavily loaded with crates of beer and soft drinks.
It then disappeared. Local police chief Ignas Mbinga said the news had only just been made public because the region was so remote.
He said divers were searching the area, but they had yet to recover any bodies.
Such accidents are fairly common on Africa's largest lake, where boats are often overcrowded.
Earlier this month 36 people drowned when the Lion of Judah sank during a storm in the same area.
Boats not inspected
Tanzania's authorities say this boat had flouted many regulations and had not even kept a passenger list.
Israel Sekilasa Director General of the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (Sumatra) said that his organisation did not have the manpower to monitor all the country's boats.
The BBC's Vicky Ntetema in Tanzania says this revelation will come as a surprise to many, especially after more than 800 people died in 1996, when MV Bukoba capsized.
However, Sumatra says that bigger vessels are inspected on a regular basis.
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© BBC MMVI
