1st LD Writethru: 12 feared dead in Tanzania Lake Nyasa boat accident

At least 12 people are feared dead after a boat that was sailing from Mbamba Bay in Tanzania to Nkhata Bay in Malawi sunk on Lake Nyasa, authorities said Monday.

Senior Tanzanian official in charge of fisheries in Lake Nyasa, Godfray Salaka said the incident occurred in the dawn hours of Saturday, when a Tanzanian MV Mapeza was sailing from Mbamba Bay to Nkhata Bay but the passengers last talked to people from Nkhata Bay at around 3 a.m. local time.

Salaka said: "Soon after receiving the information we informed security organs in Nyasa District, who sent a boat into the scene, but until now nobody has been retrieved."

The official said the accident happened in an area which 15 km to the Malawian side.

"But our rescue team was in the site working with the team from Malawi. Until now, the rescue team managed to find the capsized boat, though nobody has been found," the official said.

Lake Nyasa is being shared by Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique. It is the third largest in Africa (after Lake Victoria and lake Tanganyika) with 550 km length and 75 km width, covering an area of more than 11,400 square km. In some parts, the lake is as deep as 700 meters.

Lake Nyasa is also among the Great Rift Valley's lakes, which shares some of the characteristics with lake Tanganyika. The lake has a distinctive characteristic: 14 rivers pouring their waters into the lake, and only one river which flows out to the sea, River Shire. Endit