Surprise Found in Capsized Ferry's Engine Room

Seems one man locked himself in there
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 22, 2018 10:20 AM CDT
Survivor Found in Capsized Ferry
The upturned passenger ferry MV Nyerere floats in the water near Ukara Island in Lake Victoria, Tanzania Friday, Sept. 21, 2018.   (AP Photo)

A survivor has been found inside a capsized Tanzanian ferry two days after the disaster on Lake Victoria, an official said Saturday, while coffins arrived for at least 167 victims and counting, the AP reports. An engineer was found near the engine of the upturned vessel, Mwanza regional commissioner John Mongella told reporters. The Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation reported he had shut himself into the engine room. His condition was not immediately clear. Search efforts continued around the ferry's exposed underside as families of victims prepared to claim the dead. No one knows how many people were on board the ferry, which had a capacity of 101. Officials on Friday said at least 40 people had been rescued.

The government's Chief Secretary John Kijazi announced the rising death toll to reporters after President John Magufuli ordered the arrests of those responsible. "This is a great disaster for our nation," Magufuli says, announcing four days of national mourning. The badly overloaded ferry capsized in the final stretch before shore on Thursday afternoon as people returning from a busy market day shifted and prepared to disembark. Horrified fishermen and other witnesses have expressed fear that more than 200 could have died. Pope Francis, the United Nations secretary-general, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and a number of African leaders have expressed shock and sorrow.

(More Tanzania stories.)

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