ANOTHER tragedy, after the MV Bukoba in 1996 when hundreds of people perished, again shock engulfed in Tanzania yesterday as 240 people died after a grossly overcrowded ferry capsized off Zanzibar.
Scores more are still missing in one of the biggest tragedies to hit the country in recent years.
MV Spice Islander I sank about 30 kilometres into its journey to Pemba. Head of the rescue mission Lieutenant Hussein Mohamed told The Citizen on Sunday evening that preliminary reports indicated that the tragedy was caused by overloading.
“It was heavily overloaded with passengers and cargo,” Lieutenant Mohamed said. “It started sinking in the rear, where water got into the vessel.”
That section of the sea is believed to having the strongest currents in the Indian Ocean. The catastrophe is the worst in Zanzibar’s history and the second most appalling marine disaster in Tanzania after the sinking of the MV Bukoba in Lake Victoria in 1996, which resulted in 894 casualties.
Women wailed uncontrollably at Zanzibar port, where thousands gathered in search of news of their beloved ones. Ambulances streamed back and forth at the dock to ferry casualties to hospital and Maisara grounds as police, national service unit and prison officers carried them from the rescue ship to hospitals.
Remarkably, a five-month baby was found floating alive and totally unaware of the developments. Our correspondent in Zanzibar said many children, some as young as four months-old to two years-old, were rescued.
The dead were taken to Maisara grounds, which has been designated by authorities for identification. By yesterday evening, over 150 bodies had been identified.
Most of the dead were panic-stricken women and older children who were desperately trying to swim to safety. Many of the children were returning to Pemba to resume classes after the Idd ul Fitr celebrations.
Thousands of people gathered at Maisara ground where the president of Zanzibar, a medical doctor by profession, joined the rescue teams in giving first aid to the casualties.
Groups of relatives who were going to attend wedding ceremonies in Pemba are among the dead. A prominent journalist in Dar es Salaam is said to have lost 10 relatives who were en route to a wedding.
A crew of divers and members of the Tanzania navy command from Dar es Salaam arrived in Zanzibar yesterday to help in rescue work.
The ill-fated 44-year-old ferry was spotted by two police helicopters that were also used to deliver casualties to the shore. Local fishermen from Nungwi sent their boats and canon. “These people did 20 per cent of the rescue work,” a witness said.
President Jakaya Kikwete, who called off his trip to Canada yesterday, announced three days of national mourning from today during which the national flag will fly at half-mast.
Radio stations in Zanzibar suspended music and other entertainment programmes as the nation mourned the loss of loved ones.
Some survivors told The Citizen on Sunday that the ship earlier appeared to be listing to one side.
The death toll as we went to press stood at 160 but rescuers were still searching for more bodies. The twin-deck ferry had a 600-passenger capacity but unconfirmed reports suggested that there were over 800 passengers on board.
Lieutenant Mohamed said they were yet to receive the tally of the dead from the port control officer. “I cannot immediately say how many, but we have rescued 521 people so far,” he said. “Most of dead are women and children.”
Survivors told our correspondent that the ship, built in 1967, was heavily overloaded when it left Zanzibar port Friday night. Lieutenant Mohamed said authorities in Zanzibar had launched an investigation.
The British High Commission in Dar es Salaam yesterday issued a travel advisory, calling on anyone who knew of any of its national who might have been travelling to Pemba to inform the office.
It could not be immediately established whether the ship was inspected by port officials before it set off and if it was insured.
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