19 dead after commercial aircraft crashes into Lake Victoria in Tanzania
At least 23 people died and 20 are missing after a plane crashed into Lake Victoria in Tanzania, according to a local journalist who had access to the scene.
Lake Victoria is the world’s largest freshwater lake with an area of 2.5 million sq km. The incident took place at the height of the drought and high rainfall during this year’s rainy season in the region. All three aircraft, a Boeing 737 belonging to Kenya and two Ilyushin IL-76s from Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine were carrying people from Nairobi to Maseno airport, according to local news website Nzioni.
Nzioni quoted a local source in Maseno, Maseno airport director James Tumani, who confirmed that the three aircraft crashed into the lake. Tumani said there were 20 people on board the three planes.
The source in Maseno told the website that the plane that crashed into the lake was carrying about 20 people from Nairobi’s Ngong Road to Maseno Airport.
“It was one of these planes that crashed into Lake Victoria this morning. Most of them are dead. Most of the passengers are dead, but some of the plane are alive. A lot of them are missing,” the source said.
According to a report from Nzioni News, Maseno airport director Tumani said all the bodies, including the victims of the crashed plane, were on board the aircraft.
“Some people managed to get out of the aircraft by swimming but most of them couldn’t. Now, we are looking for them,” he said.
“Today we were expecting the weather, but we could never expect one to come at that time. I don’t know what happened in the plane. I have no idea,” he said.
According to the reports, Kenya Airways said in a statement that its flight carrying 162 passengers and crew
