Lake Victoria, Tanzania: Hundreds feared missing as ferry capsizes

BBC ^ | 09/20/18

[Simon Green]

Hundreds of people are feared missing after a ferry capsized on Lake Victoria in north Tanzania.

A local official told the BBC five people have died and 102 have been rescued, but another said that the vessel was overloaded with more than 400 people on board.

The MV Nyerere ferry overturned near the shore between the islands of Ukora and Bugolora.

Locals have joined with emergency teams in rescue efforts.

The Tanzanian government has confirmed the ferry capsized but exact figures for those on board are yet to be confirmed.

"We pray to God to give us hope in such an accident," Regional Commissioner Adam Malima told reporters.

"We pray to God to give us hope that there has not been a high death toll."

Accidents are common on Africa's largest lake, Victoria, where boats often depart overcrowded.

More than 800 people died in 1996 when the MV Bukoba capsized. It was one of the worst maritime disasters of the last century.

[entropy12]

I am sure that is true (because hippos are amphibious).

[Calvin Locke]

Oh, and then there's this one Sinking of MV Sewol.

I remember this because I had been watching MHZ the night before, and when I turned the tv on it the morning, it was running Arirang News, and it was THE story, for obvious reasons.

And the overload of this vessel made the "righting" attempts sluggish.

As for the captain: "[initially] Captain Lee also instructed passengers to stay put and did not change the order even as he was leaving the ship."

[bravo whiskey]

“Wasn’t there an autoferry on the Baltic that had its bow doors ripped open by waves, and it sank? “ Correct but the reason for the sinking was the doors had not been properly secured and thus the waves opened them. It was 100% human error. The vessel should not have sunk except for this human error.

i believe another issue was the lack of any internal bulkhead on the car deck. These would have slowed loading and off loading. once the bow doors were breached there was nothing to stop the water filling the entire car deck.