Update - MV Nyerere Sinking

   NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - A survivor has been found inside a capsized Tanzanian ferry two days after the disaster on Lake Victoria, an official said Saturday, while coffins arrived for at least 167 victims and counting.

   An engineer was found near the engine of the upturned vessel, Mwanza regional commissioner John Mongella told reporters. The Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation reported he had shut himself into the engine room. His condition was not immediately clear.

   Search efforts continued around the ferry's exposed underside as families of victims prepared to claim the dead. No one knows how many people were on board the ferry, which had a capacity of 101. Officials on Friday said at least 40 people had been rescued.

   The government's Chief Secretary John Kijazi announced the rising death toll to reporters after President John Magufuli ordered the arrests of those responsible.

   "This is a great disaster for our nation," Magufuli said, announcing four days of national mourning.

   The badly overloaded ferry capsized in the final stretch before shore on Thursday afternoon as people returning from a busy market day shifted and prepared to disembark. Horrified fishermen and other witnesses have expressed fear that more than 200 could have died.

   Pope Francis, the United Nations secretary-general, Russian President Vladimir Putin and a number of African leaders have expressed shock and sorrow.

   The MV Nyerere, named for the former president who led the East African nation to independence, was traveling between the islands of Ukara and Ukerewe when it sank, according to the government agency in charge of servicing the vessels.

   Accidents are often reported on the large freshwater lake surrounded by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Some of the deadliest have occurred in Tanzania, where aging passenger ferries often carry hundreds of passengers and well beyond capacity.

   In 1996, more than 800 people died when passenger and cargo ferry MV Bukoba sank on Lake Victoria.

   Nearly 200 people died in 2011 when the MV Spice Islander I sank off Tanzania's Indian Ocean coast near Zanzibar.

Ferry MV Nyerere Yazama Ziwa Victoria - Watu zaidi ya 400 Wahofia Kufa

Inasdikiwa kuwa watu zaidi ya 400 wamekufa  baada ya Feri ya MV Nyerere kuzama Ziwa Victoria siku ya Alhamisi.  Feri ilizama karibu na kitou  cha Ukara Island. Ilikuwa na uwezo ya kubeba abiria mia lakini watu waansema ilikuwa imebeba zaidi ya watu 400.  Siku ya alhamisi iliku siku ya watu kwenda Sokoni 'Market Day', kwenda kununua na kuuza bidhaa mbalimbali. Raisi Magufuli amesema kuwa nahodha wa Ferry hakuwa na kipaji cha kuendesha feri hiyo.

KWA HABARI ZAIDI BOFYA HAPA

MV Nyerere ikiwa kazini Ziwa Victoria

MV Nyerere baada ya kuzama Ziwa Victoria

Jitihada za Uokoaji

Kenyan Honeymooners Missing in Zanzibar Ferry Accident

If you have info, contact the Kenya High Commission in Dar: info@kenyahighcom.org

URGENT APPEAL:
PLEASE HELP FIND THE KIRIMIS.
Martin Kirimi and Mary Mwangi are Kenyans, newlywed and were on honeymoon in Zanzibar. They haven't been heard of since the Zanzibar ferry accident. If you have any information, please contact the email address on the poster.

The MV Skagit sank in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Zanzibar on July 19, 2012.

http://swahilitime.blogspot.com/2012/07/ajali-ya-mv-skagitkalama.html

 ****************************************************************

By AGGREY MUTAMBOPosted Friday, August 3  2012

 

A Kenyan couple on honeymoon in Tanzania have gone missing since a ferry disaster in Zanzibar that killed 128 people.

Mr Martin Kirimi and his wife of three weeks, Mary Mwangi, had told relatives and friends that they would take a bus from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam and then the ferry to Zanzibar for their honeymoon.

Mr Kirimi from Nyambene in Meru County to the east, and his newly-wed wife, Mary, from Karatina in the central Nyeri County, were last heard of when they left for their 10-day honeymoon in Zanzibar.

Now relatives and friends fear the two may have been aboard the ill-fated ferry that sunk off the shores of Zanzibar two weeks ago.

Mr Kirimi, 30, was a nurse at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi while his wife was a kindergarten teacher in Westlands area of the capital city.

On Thursday, Mr Maina Kariuki, Mr Kirimi’s brother-in-law, told the Daily Nation newspaper they last talked on phone just before the couple entered Tanzania.

“We spoke around 9.21am when they were at the Namanga border. He promised to buy a mobile phone sim card while in Dar then he would call me to tell me the number they would be using while on honeymoon in Zanzibar,” said Mr Kariuki.

"They wanted to enjoy their privacy and ensure people would not disturb them. But Martin never called back. We are not sure if they arrived in the Tanzanian capital although the Dar Express bus company has told us that all passengers arrived safely at 9pm.”

The couple had planned to go to Zanzibar through Dar es Salaam by road to enjoy the scenery, use the ferry to the island and then come back by air, he said.

The Kirimis celebrated their wedding at the Seagull Hotel on Thika Road, spent two nights at another local hotel and on the evening of July 16, Mary’s sister hosted a dinner for the newlyweds at her Kasarani home in Nairobi.

“Martin and Mary were both excited,” said Mary’s sister, Priscillah Mwangi, barely able to conceal her distraught state.

That was the last time she saw her sister and her brother-in-law.

What is not clear is if the couple spent the night in Dar or proceeded to the Tanzanian archipelago.

Dume Akikojoa Hadharani!

Nilishawasema hao wanaume wanatoa dudu zao na kukojoa hadharani bila hata aibu! Jamaa kasimama na kashika dude lake kama vile ni mfalme wa hapo Ferry! Huyo nyuma yake sijui anaosha nini lakini inaelekea anaiosha na mkojo wa jamaa! Au anadhani kwa vile bahari ina maji ya chumvi haina madhara! Khaa!

Asante Michuzi Jr. (Jiachie blog) kwa hii picha. Na mlioko Bongo hebu mpashe huyo jamaa kuwa atazame neti ajione akifanya ushenzi wake!

*************************************************************