Passenger Plane Crashes Into Lake Victoria In Tanzania

A passenger plane crashed into Lake Victoria on Sunday in Tanzania due to bad weather shortly before landing in the northwestern city of Bukoba.

“There was an accident involving a Precision Air plane which… crashed into water about 100 metres from the airport,” regional police commander William Mwampaghale told reporters at Bukoba airport. He added that rescue efforts were underway.

Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation said 15 people had been rescued so far but there was no immediate record on number of person on board or whether there were fatalities.

Video footage and photos on social media showed the plane almost fully submerged with only its green and brown-colored tail above water.

Tanzania’s president, Samia Suluhu Hassan has called for calm as rescue operations continue.

Precision Air, Tanzania’s largest private airline, released a brief statement confirming the accident.