A Tanzanian commercial aircraft, operated by Precision Air crashed in Lake Victoria on Sunday morning, November 6, with several passengers. Officials have confirmed that the majority of the passengers have been rescued so far, with rescue work still underway.
Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and the crash site is near the Bukoba airport in the Kagera region of northwest Tanzania. The total numbers of the passengers who were onboard the Precision Air flight has not been confirmed so far, along with if there has been any casualty.
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“Everything is currently under control,” William Mwampaghale, the Kagera provincial police commander, revealed at the crash site. “Rescue operations are underway, we have so far rescued several people and eventually we will make sure we have rescued everyone and removed the airplane out of the water,” the official added.
Watch video of the rescue efforts here:
Mwampaghale also added that the rescued passengers were transported to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Many videos of the crash site have gone viral so far, which shows the plane in question drowning in Lake Victoria slowly with rescue workers coordinating with boats on water. The incident has also resulted in the President of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan, urging social media users to calm down and let the rescue workers work.
“I have received with sadness the information of the crash of the Precision Air flight at Lake Victoria, in the Kagera region,” the Tanzanian President tweeted after videos of the plane crash went viral.
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“I send my condolences to all those affected by this incident. Let’s continue to be calm as the rescue operation continues and we pray to God to help us,” she added.
Precision Air is a Tanzania-based airline, which operates from the country’s financial capital and largest city Dar es Salaam’s Julius Nyerere International Airport. It operates commercial flights to Nairobi, Entebbe and domestic flights in Tanzania. The reason behind the commercial aircraft’s crash is yet to be determined.
