Passenger plane crashes into Lake Victoria in Tanzania, 19 dead, prime minister says - Reuters

DAR ES SALAAM, Nov 6 (Reuters) - At slightest 19 radical died erstwhile a rider level crashed into Lake Victoria successful Tanzania connected Sunday greeting portion trying to onshore astatine a adjacent airport, the premier curate said.

Flight PW494, operated by Precision Air, deed the h2o during storms and dense rain, the authorities Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) reported.

Rescuers successful boats rushed to the wreckage, which was astir afloat submerged, to propulsion retired trapped passengers, section authorities said.

"All Tanzanians articulation you successful mourning these 19 radical ... who person mislaid their lives," Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa told reporters successful the lakeside metropolis of Bukoba, adjacent to the country of the crash.

Investigators were inactive looking into what happened, helium added.

The level near the commercialized superior Dar es Salaam and "crash-landed" astatine 8:53 a.m. (0553 GMT) arsenic it was approaching Bukoba airport, Precision Air - Tanzania's largest privately owned hose - said successful a statement.

The level was carrying 39 passengers, including an infant, arsenic good arsenic 4 unit members, the hose added. It said 26 of the 43 radical connected committee had been rescued.

Airline officials did not reply calls seeking further details, and the discrepancy successful the figures could not instantly beryllium reconciled.

A witnesser told TBC helium saw the level flying unsteadily arsenic it approached the airdrome successful mediocre visibility conditions, saying it took a crook for the airdrome but missed and went into the lake.

Video and pictures connected societal media showed the level astir afloat submerged, with lone its greenish and brown-coloured process disposable supra the waterline of Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake.

Footage from the broadcaster and onlookers showed scores of residents lasting on the shoreline and others wading into the shallow waters to effort to assistance propulsion the craft person to the enactment with ropes.

Rescue workers were initially successful interaction with the pilots successful the cockpit, Albert Chalamila, main head of Tanzania's Kagera region, told reporters. The premier curate aboriginal said the pilots whitethorn person died.

Precision Air identified the craft arsenic an ATR42-500. The Franco-Italian shaper ATR did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

First introduced astir 40 years ago, the ATR42 is the smaller of 2 bid of short-haul turboprops made by ATR, a joint-venture of Airbus (AIR.PA) and Leonardo (LDOF.MI). The past fatal mishap was successful 2017, according to aviation-safety.net, a information database.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan called for calm arsenic the rescue cognition continued.

"I person received with sadness the quality of the mishap involving Precision Air's plane," she tweeted. "Let's beryllium calm astatine this infinitesimal erstwhile rescuers are continuing with the rescue ngo portion praying to God to assistance us."

Additional reporting by Duncan Miriri successful Nairobi and Tim Hepher successful Paris Writing by Elias Biryabarema Editing by Alexandra Zavis, William Maclean, Helen Popper and Andrew Heavens

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