As of yesterday evening there were 19 confirmed dead and about 10 missing from the Precision Air company plane that crashed into Lake Victoria, Tanzanian shores, near Bukoba airport.
The plane was carrying 43 people including travelers and staff, 26 of whom were rescued almost immediately as the aircraft sank into the cold waters of the lake were hospitalized. Some of them, however, would not make it, according to Tanzanian institutional sources.
Photos broadcast by Tanzanian media show the plane almost completely submerged, with only its brown and green tail fin above the water, surrounded by rescuers and fishing boats.
One side of the runway at Bukoba Airport is right next to the shores of Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake.
The Precision Air flight was on its way from Tanzania's largest city, Das es Salaam, to Bukoba via Mwanza when it reportedly encountered a storm and heavy rains. Precision Air is Tanzania's largest private airline and has not had a major accident since it was founded in 1993. The last major crash on Tanzanian soil occurred five years ago, a Coastal Airlines plane with 11 people on board, bound for Serengeti National Park, crashed in northern Tanzania. None of the passengers and pilots on board were saved.