Photo: The Canadian Press Rescuers in boats and standing in the water are seen around the tail fin of a Precision Air passenger jet that crashed on the shores of Lake Victoria in Bukoba, western Tanzania on Sunday. A small passenger plane crashed Sunday morning into Lake Victoria on approach to an airport in Tanzania, and the country’s prime minister said 19 people were killed. Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa gave the new death toll, up from three. Earlier, local authorities said 26 of those on board the Precision Air flight from the coastal city of Dar es Salaam had been rescued and taken to hospital. It was not clear if any of those rescued died in hospital. Pictures showed the plane, which was heading to Bukoba airport, mostly submerged in the lake. Precision Air is a Tanzanian airline. “We managed to save a lot of people,” Kagera provincial police commander William Mwampaghale told reporters. “When the aircraft was about 100 meters in the air, it encountered problems and bad weather. It was raining and the plane fell into the water,” he said. Mwampaghale said rescue efforts were ongoing.
