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Dozens of people were missing after the ferry, MV Kalama, capsized after it set sail from the Tanzanian commercial capital of Dar-es-Salaam around midday on Wednesday, officials said. “We have so far received 24 bodies, including two Europeans,” Hamad Masoud Hamad, Zanzibar’s transport minister, told journalists gathered at the main hospital after the sinking of the MV Kalama.
This was the second such ferry disaster in Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in less than a year. “The rescue operations are continuing . . . 124 people have already been found alive and we hope that others will be saved,” Emmanuel Nchimbi, Tanzania’s interior minister, said.
Rescue boats and divers were searching for any remaining survivors on the mostly submerged vessel.
Government spokesman Yusuf Chunda said 13 foreigners were rescued and are in hospital. It was not clear how many other foreigners had been on board.
“More than 200 people are believed to have been on board the boat when it capsized. We don’t know how many of them sank with the boat,” Zanzibar police spokesman Mohammed Mhina said.
“The rescue operation is ongoing as we speak but almost the entire boat has been submerged in water . . . only a small part of the boat is now visible.”
A journalist at the port on the main island of the Indian Ocean archipelago said he had seen 55 survivors, soaking wet, on the quayside. — AFP.
Online Reporter