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A plane crash has killed 19 people after the aircraft, carrying 43 people, plunged into Lake Victoria in Tanzania after it was affected by bad weather- 100 yards short of the airport where it was due to land.
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa gave the new death toll, up from the three whose bodies were earlier recovered from the scene.
While the two pilots earlier spoke to local officials from the cockpit, according to the BBC, the prime minister has said they may have died since then.
Precision Air flight PW 494 was scheduled to fly from Dar es Salaam to Bukoba airport carrying 39 passengers, two pilots and two cabin crew when it plunged into the water at around 8.30am local time (5.30 GMT).
Regional commissioner Albert Chalamila earlier said that 26 people were rescued and taken to hospital. It was not clear if any of those who were rescued died at the hospital.
Using ropes, emergency workers have managed to get the plane closer to shore and moved some of the plane’s body out of the water.
Kagera province police commander William Mwampaghale told journalists, “We have managed to save quite a number of people.
“When the aircraft was about 328 feet midair, it encountered problems and bad weather. It was raining and the plane plunged into the water.”
He told journalists that rescue efforts were continuing at the scene. The airport is closed until further notice and authorities will conduct an investigation into the crash.
Speaking to the BBC, Abdul Nuri said he was at the airport waiting for the return flight to Dar es Salaam when he saw the crash.
He said, “We were really shocked. People panicked and some started crying and shouting.
“At the arrivals gate people panicked as well – most of them were waiting to welcome their relatives.”
The rescue could begin because a flight attendant opened the rear door while the plane was in the water so fishermen could get into the plane and help people to escape.
Footage posted online earlier in the day showed rescuers, including fishermen, wading through water to bring people to safety.
Emergency services using ropes to attempt to lift the aircraft out of the water were assisted by cranes and local residents.
The aircraft was an ATR-42, manufactured by Toulouse-based Franco-Italian firm ATR.
A statement was released by the airline, confirming the accident, saying, “The rescue team has been dispatched to the scene and more information will be released in two hours time.”
Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan expressed her condolences to those affected by the accident.
She tweeted, “Let’s continue to be calm while the rescue operation continues as we pray to God to help us.”
Precision Air is partly owned by Kenya Airways and was founded in 1993. It operates domestic and regional flights as well as private charters to popular tourist destinations such as the Serengeti National Park and the Zanzibar archipelago.
The crash comes five years after eleven people including American and German tourists died in a plane crash in northern Tanzania.
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