Peninsula Daily News news sources
ARUSHA, Tanzania — A Zanzibar official says 31 people were killed in a ferry accident off the coast of Tanzania’s island region of Zanzibar involving a vessel that once was operated by Washington State Ferries.
Mwinyihaji Makame, a deputy minister in the office of the president, said today it remained unclear how many passengers were on board, but witnesses said the ferry carried more than 200 people when it sank.
BBC News said the capsized ferry is the former MV Skagit, a passenger-only ferry that serviced the Seattle-to-Vashon Island run before it was sold to Tanzania along with the MV Kalama.
The ferry was leaving the Tanzanian port city of Dar es Salaam and was headed for Zanzibar, which is popular with tourists.
Makame said a rescue effort was on and that police were investigating what caused the accident.
——
The Associated Press and PDN news partner KOMO News contributed to this report.
