Rescue operations were underway in Tanzania on Sunday after a plane carrying 39 passengers, including an infant, crashed into Africa’s largest lake, the airline said in a statement.
Out of the 39 passengers on board the Precision Air flight, 26 had been rescued and taken to hospital, it said in a statement. No deaths had been confirmed, it added. The airline did not provide the details of the crew.
“We have managed to save quite a number of people,” Kagera province police commander William Mwampaghale told journalists.
“When the aircraft was about 100 meters (328 feet) midair, it encountered problems and bad weather. It was raining and the plane plunged into the water,” he said. “Everything is under control.”
Footage verified by NBC News showed the plane almost completely submerged in the lake with rescue boats around its green and yellow tail.
Tanzanian Precision Air said in a statement on Facebook that its flight PW494, flying from the commercial hub of Dar es Salaam on the eastern coast of the country, was “involved in an accident as it was approaching Bukoba airport.”
Bukoba is on the western edge of Lake Victoria, which is on the border with Uganda and Kenya.
“The rescue team has been dispatched to the scene,” Precision Air said.
“I have received with sadness the news of the accident involving Precision Air’s plane,” Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu wrote on Twitter. “Let’s be calm at this moment when rescuers are continuing with the rescue mission while praying to God to help us.”
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