Several passengers have been rescued after a commercial flight crashed into Lake Victoria in Tanzania on Sunday, CNN reported citing the officials.
Boats with emergency response personnel were deployed to the crash site, which is Africa’s largest river by area. Precision air which was operating the aircraft, said that 26 people had been rescued so far before adding that no fatalities had yet been confirmed, according to a statement posted to its Twitter account.
After the crash, the plane was almost completely submerged with only the brown and green tail fin above the water.
Top regional official Albert Chalamila said that three bodies had been recovered so far following the crash, which has been blamed on bad weather.
The flight had taken off from Tanzania’s commercial capital of Dar es Salaam but was “involved in an accident as it was approaching Bukoba airport and crash landed in Lake Victoria,” the carrier said. A total of 43 people were the flight, including 39 passengers and four crew members, according to the airline and Kagera provincial Commissioner Albert Chalamila.
Video circulating on social media, taken by onlookers on the shores of Lake Victoria, showed the aircraft submerged in the water with emergency responders coordinating rescue efforts from nearby boats.
“We’re trying to pull out ofaircraf” om the water. We’re trying to check if the wheels hit the ground under water or figure out some other way to push it out of the lake. At this time, there is still communication from the cockpit. “The pilots are still in contact with us,” Chalamila said.
Tanzania’s President took to social media to call for calm while rescuers worked at the site of a downed plane. “I have received with sadness the information about the crash of the Precision Air flight at Lake Victoria, in the Kagera region,” President Samoa Suluhu wrote on Twitter Sunday. “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,”, he added. Precision Air is a Tanzanian airline based in Dar es Salaam.