A commercial airliner crashed into Lake Victoria, Tanzania on Sunday due to poor weather shortly before landing in the northwestern city of Bukoba, police said, adding that rescue operations were underway.
“There was an accident involving (the airline) Precision Air plane that […] crashed into the water about 100 meters from the airport,” Regional Police Commander William Mwampaghale told reporters at Bukoba Airport.
No information was initially available on the number of passengers on board the plane, but local media reported that about 49 people were on the flight from Dar es Salaam, the economic capital of Tanzania, to Bukoba, a town on the edge of the lake.
“The situation is under control as security teams are working hard to rescue passengers,” added Commander Mwampaghale.
Precision Air, Tanzania’s largest private airline, released a brief statement confirming the accident.
“The rescue team has been dispatched to the scene and more information will be released in two hours,” the airline said.
The crash came five years after 11 people died in a safari company plane crash in northern Tanzania.