A domestic passenger plane plunged into Lake Victoria in Tanzania early on Sunday due to bad weather shortly before landing in the northwestern city of Bukoba, police said, adding that rescue efforts were under way.
“There was an accident involving a Precision Air plane which… crashed into water about 100 metres from the airport,” regional police commander William Mwampaghale told reporters at Bukoba airport.
No information was immediately available on the number of passengers aboard the plane, but local media reports said around 49 people were on the flight from financial capital Dar es Salaam to the lakeside city.
“The situation is under control as security teams are working hard to rescue people,” Mwampaghale added.
Precision Air, which is Tanzania’s largest private airline, released a brief statement confirming the accident.
“The rescue team has been dispatched to the scene and more information will be released in 2 hours’ time,” the airline said.
The plane, which was destined to land in Bukoba from Dar es salaam, crashed 100 meters from Bukoba Airport at around 8:35am.
It was passenger flight PW 494, flight schedule Dar-Bukoba-Mwanza. 43 people were on board (39 passengers, two air hostesses and two pilots), this is according to Kagera Regional Commissioner, Albert Chalamila.
Police say 26 have been rescued so far and taken to Kagera Hospital.
The accident comes five years after 11 people died when a plane belonging to a safari company crashed in northern Tanzania.
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