Tuesday, July 24, 2012

146 presumed dead in ferry accident

The government of Tanzania stopped rescue operations associated with a ferry accident last Wednesday in which 146 people appear to have died.

According to Tanzania government official Ali Juma Shamhuna, 69 passengers were confirmed dead and 77 were still missing, but rescuers believed after three days there was little hope of recovering more bodies in the Indian Ocean. Rough seas hampered rescue operations

The ferry MV Skagit capsized Wednesday while heading from the East African city Dar es Salaam to the island of Zanzibar. The ferry was carrying 291 passengers, but had only been approved to carry 250, according to Shamhuna. 145 passengers were rescued.

Washington state officials sold the Skagit to a Canadian company in 2011 as part of a two-vessel sale totaling $400,000, and those ferries were scheduled to be transported by cargo ship to Tanzania, according to an article in the Charlotte Observer. The Skagit was built in 1989 and had been inactive since 2009 after the state ended its passenger-only service.

For more of the Sacramento Bee story: sacbee.com

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