Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Friday ordered the arrest of the management of a ferry that capsized in Lake Victoria, as the death toll climbed to 131 and rescue workers pressed on with the search to find scores more people feared drowned.
The MV Nyerere may have been carrying as many as 200 passengers — double the ferry’s capacity — when it capsized close to the pier on Ukara Island on Thursday, according to reports on state media.
Witnesses reached by AFP said the ferry sank when passengers rushed to one side to disembark as it approached the dock.
Mr Magufuli referred to “negligence” and said he had ordered the arrest of “all those involved in the management of the ferry”, during a speech on TBC One public television.
“It appears clear that the ferry was overloaded,” he said, adding that “the arrests have already begun”.
The president also declared four days of national mourning while saying at least 131 people had died, updating an earlier death toll of 126.
Mwanza governor John Mongella had earlier said the number of survivors was 40, but it was unclear whether any new survivors had been found since rescue operations resumed with police and army divers on Friday morning.
“Operations are continuing,” he said, but hopes are fading that more survivors might still be found.
State television cited witnesses reporting that more than 200 people had boarded the ferry at Bugolora, a town on the larger Ukerewe Island, where it was market day when locals said the vessel was usually packed with people and goods.
The country’s opposition has accused the government of “negligence”.
“We have often raised concerns about the poor condition of this ferry, but the government turned a deaf ear. We have repeatedly denounced this negligence,” said John Mnyika, deputy secretary general of Chadema, the main opposition party.
Mnyika said overloading was “another failure of the authorities” and criticised “inadequate relief efforts as well as delays” in the rescue operation.
With a surface area of 70,000 square kilometres (27,000 square miles), oval-shaped Lake Victoria is roughly the size of Ireland and is shared by Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.
Capsizes are not uncommon in the massive lake, and the number of fatalities is often high due to a shortage of life jackets and the fact that many people in the region cannot swim.
The deadliest such accident in recent decades was in May 1996, when around 800 people died after their ferry sank on the way to Mwanza in Tanzania.
MV Nyerere tragedy: Survivors recount what happened https://t.co/MYeetagn9o
— Daily Nation (@dailynation) September 22, 2018
UPDATE: 209 bodies retrieved, 41 people rescued so far at Bwisya area in Ukara after #MVNyerere capsized in Lake Victoria, Tanzania. #PrayForTanzania pic.twitter.com/YK1gsr64w4
— The African Voice (@teddyeugene) September 22, 2018