Wanne Washitakiwa! Ajali ya meli MV Spice Islanders

Haya wadau, watu wanne wameshitakiwa mahakamani. Naona kama hao ni watu wadogo. Nahodha wa hiyo meli yuko wapi?  Kwa nini alikubali kuondoka na meli ambayo kila mtu aliona imejaa kupindukia. Pia, kwa nini meli iliruhusirwa kuondoka bandarini.  Huko Dar walilazimishwa kushusha mizigo kabla ya kuruhusiwa kuondoka bandarini na kuelekea Zanzibar. Au Nahaodha alikufa katika ajali. Kuna ule usemi Nahodha anakufa na meli yake! (The Captain always goes down with his ship). Au anakataa mitaa ya Dar?

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STONE TOWN, Tanzania (AP) - Tanzanian authorities have charged four men with negligence over a ferry sinking that cost more than 240 lives a week ago.
 It's unclear how many passengers were aboard, but more than 800 people survived by clinging onto pieces of wood or crowding onto lifeboats.

 "It is a relief to us to hear that a handful of people were charged, but we believe the real culprits remain untouched," said survivor Suleiman Malik. "We wish to see some big fish fished out and face the long arms of the law."

The ferry owner Yusuf Suleiman Jussa, 47, first officer Abdallah Mohamed Ali, 30, and Zanzibar Ports Authority employee Silima Nyange Silima, 27, all were charged with contravening the Maritime Act by allowing the heavily overloaded M.V. Spice Islander to leave port.

Captain Said Abdullah Kinyanyite, who remains missing, was charged in absentia.

Ramadhan Nassib from the Directorate of Public Prosecution said the four were responsible for the deaths after the ferry sank at night in an area of deep seas and strong currents.

The suspects were not allowed to enter a plea after the charges were read out to a packed courtroom late on Friday.

MV Spice Islander bandarini Zanzibar photo by Photo by Nipun Srivastava