Nearly 200 Dead as Ferry Capsizes in Tanzania

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

ZANZIBAR, Tanzania — Nearly 200 people drowned when an overloaded ferry capsized off east Africa as it sailed from Zanzibar to Pemba island, police said on Saturday, Tanzania’s worst maritime disaster in at least 15 years.

Fishing boats, tour operators and diving instructors scoured the sea off the coast of Tanzania looking for survivors, many clinging to strewn cargo. One photograph showed two men and a child floating on a mattress, clinging to a refrigerator.

A spokesman for the Zanzibar police, Mohamed Mhina, told Reuters 192 bodies had been recovered and 606 passengers rescued from the Indian Ocean so far.

“There is a possibility that more bodies still remain at sea,” Mr. Mhina said. “Rescue workers are still searching for survivors and retrieving bodies.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/world/africa/11tanzania.html

[shireen]

1. horrifying .... it's so sad.

:cry:

[polly7]

2. Just terrible :( nt.