Just in: Passenger plane crashes into Lake Victoria in Tanzania, 26 rescued

An airplane carrying 43 people plunged into Lake Victoria in Tanzania early Sunday due to bad weather shortly before it was due to land in the city of Bukoba.

The aircraft belonging to Precision Air, Tanzania’s largest private airline, crashed into water about 100 metres from the airport, according to Regional Police Commander William Mwampaghale.

Regional commissioner Albert Chalamila said 39 passengers, two pilots and two cabin crew were aboard the flight from financial capital Dar es Salaam to the lakeside city in Kagera region.

“As we speak, we have managed to rescue 26 people who were taken to our referral hospital,” Chalamila said.

“The rescue operation is still ongoing and we are communicating with the pilots,” he said, adding that more details would be shared later.

Precision Air released a brief statement confirming the accident.

“The rescue team has been dispatched to the scene and more information will be released in two hours’ time,” the airline said.

Video footage on local media showed the plane largely submerged as rescuers waded through water to bring people to safety.

Emergency workers attempted to lift the aircraft out of the water using ropes, assisted by cranes.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan expressed her condolences to those affected by the accident.

“Let’s continue to be calm while the rescue operation continues as we pray to God to help us,” she said on Twitter.

Precision Air, which is partly owned by Kenya Airways, was founded in 1993 and operates domestic and regional flights as well as private charters to popular tourist destinations such as the Serengeti National Park and the Zanzibar archipelago.

The accident comes five years after 11 people died when a plane belonging to safari company Coastal Aviation crashed in northern Tanzania.

In March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines flight from from Addis Ababa to Nairobi plunged six minutes after take-off into a field southeast of the Ethiopian capital, killing all 157 people on board.

In 2007, a Kenya Airways flight from the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan to Kenya’s capital Nairobi crashed into a swamp after take-off, killing all 114 passengers.

In 2000 another Kenya Airways flight from Abidjan to Nairobi crashed into the Atlantic Ocean minutes after take-off, killing 169 people while 10 survived.