At least 19 dead after Tanzanian passenger plane crashes into Lake Victoria

(Updates casualties, changes headline, lead)

Dar es Salaam, Nov 6 (EFE).- At least 19 people died on Sunday after a passenger plane with 43 people on board crashed into Lake Victoria in Tanzania, prime minister Kassim Majaliwa said.

“We send our condolences to those who have lost their loved ones and to all Tanzanians for this incident that has claimed the lives of 19 people,” Majaliwa told reporters after traveling to the scene.

Precision Air said that a plane “flying from Dar Es Salam to Bukoba has been involved in an accident as it was approaching Bukoba airport and crash landed in Lake Victoria.”

In a statement posted to Twitter, the country’s president Samia Saluhu Hassan sent her condolences “to all affected” and appealed for calm.

“I have received with regret the information of the plane crash of the Precision company in Lake Victoria, in the region of Kagera (…) Let us remain calm while the rescue operation continues and while we ask Allah to help us,” she said.

The chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, also expressed his solidarity with the victims.

“Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the passengers who were traveling on a plane that crashed in Lake Victoria,” he said.

Videos and photos shared on social media show the plane almost completely submerged in the lake, surrounded by motorboats carrying out the rescue. EFE

rm-lbg/ks