Passenger plane crashes into Lake Victoria

Rescuers in boats around the tail of the crashed Precision Air passenger aircraft on shores of Lake Victoria in Bukoba Sunday. Pic/AP

A Precision Air flight carrying at least 39 passengers made a crash landing into Lake Victoria on Sunday while attempting to reach a nearby airport in Tanzania, the airline said. At least 26 people were rescued from the plane, the airline said in a statement. At least 19 people died.

Flight PW494, which departed from the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, "crash landed" into the lake as it was approaching the lakeside city of Bukoba, Precision Air added. The cause was not immediately clear, but the state broadcaster said the incident took place amid storms and heavy rains.

A witness told the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) he saw the plane flying unsteadily as it approached the airport in poor visibility conditions, saying it took a turn for the airport but missed and went into the lake.

Video and pictures circulating on social media showed the plane almost fully submerged, with only its green and brown-coloured tail visible above the water line of Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake. Rescue boats were deployed, and emergency workers were continuing to pull trapped passengers from the plane, TBC reported.

Rescue workers were in touch with the pilots in the cockpit and were attempting to pull the plane from the lake, Albert Chalamila, the chief administrator of Tanzania's Kagera region, told reporters.

19
No of people who died

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