Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Dozens missing from capsized ferry off Zanzibar


Dozens missing from capsized ferry off Zanzibar

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By RAY NALUYAGA, AFP
Posted  Wednesday, July 18  2012 at  16:45
ZANZIBAR, Tanzania,
Dozens of people are missing after a ferry capsized Wednesday as it was sailing from the Tanzanian commercial capital of Dar-es-Salaam to Zanzibar, a government official said.
Saidi Shabaani, an official in the second vice president's office, said the ferry was carrying about 250 people when the accident occurred at around 0930 GMT.
"This is another tragedy we are investigating. A rescue team from the police and navy have rushed to the scene," Shaabani told AFP.
More than 200 people perished in September when the ferry Spice Islander capsized while sailing between two of the three islands that make up Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in one of the worst maritime disasters in Africa in the past decade.
According to Zanzibar Member of Parliament (CUF) Ismail Jussa, the boat is estimated to have been carrying about 200 passengers.
MV Kalami was on its way from Dar Es Salaam to Zanzibar and rescue operations are still going on.
Jussa said rescue boats have just been dispatched to the scene of the accident and that all other passenger and cargo ferries plying between Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar have suspended their operations and joined the recue effort.
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According to Mukadam Hamisi of the Mji Mkongwe Police Investigation Department, the government has set up tents and cordoned off Maisara grounds in preparations for receiving dead bodies.
Mr Hamisi, former CID of Mji Mkongwe said the ship owned by Seagull shipping company has now completely sank into the water near Chumbe island.
“There is nothing more I can tell you for now,” he said over the phone.

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