Rescue teams resumed their search yesterday for victims of a ferry disaster off Zanzibar, in which at least 193 people died, without hopes of finding any more survivors.
“We will continue to look for bodies, but there is no hope any more of finding people alive. We are looking for the bodies so they can be buried,” police spokesman Mohamed Mhina said.
Meanwhile, Tanzania yesterday began three days of national mourning for the victims of the tragedy, one of the worst maritime disasters in Africa in the past decade.
The ferry Spice Islander, reportedly with more than 800 people as well as cargo on board, capsized early on Saturday four hours into sailing between Unguja and Pemba, two of the three islands that make up Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania.
Overloading is believed to have caused the disaster. Some angry survivors accused port and ferry officials of having ignored the protests of passengers that the boat was overcrowded.
Rescuers managed to pick up 612 survivors, officials said, but were forced to suspend their work as night fell.
“Bodies which have been ... identified yesterday have been buried, some of them during the night. Those who could not be identified have been buried with dignity by the government,” Mhina said, explaining that the rapidity of the burials was in accordance with Islam, the religion of the overwhelming majority of the population on Zanzibar, located off the Tanzanian coast.
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