A plane crashed into Lake Victoria on Sunday morning as it was approaching an airport in Tanzania, killing 19 people on board, the country’s prime minister said. A senior police officer said it was raining when the plane crashed into the water.
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa increased the death toll from the previously announced three deaths. Local authorities said earlier Sunday that 26 of the 43 people on the Precision Air flight from the coastal city of Dar es Salaam were rescued and taken to a hospital. It was not clear if the new death toll included people who died in hospital.
Photos showed the plane flying to Bukoba Airport mostly submerged in the lake. Precision Air is a Tanzanian airline.
“We managed to save quite a number of people,” Kagera Provincial Police Commander William Mwampaghale told reporters.
Rescuers try to recover the Precision Air passenger plane that crashed into Lake Victoria November 6, 2022 in Bukoba, Tanzania. STRINGER / Portal
“When the plane was approximately 100 meters (328 feet) airborne, it encountered problems and bad weather. It was raining and the plane crashed into the water,” he said.
Mwampaghale said rescue efforts were continuing.