LAKE VICTORIA AIR CRUSH VICTIMS PUT TO REST

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By CIC Africa

LAKE VICTORIA AIR CRUSH VICTIMS PUT TO REST.

Caskets of the victims of a passenger plane that plunged into Lake Victoria are seen at the Kaitaba Stadium in Bukoba, Tanzania, November 7, 2022, during a ceremony to hand over the bodies of the victims to their families.

Weeping relatives of the 19 people who died when a plane crashed into Lake Victoria in Tanzania filed past a row of coffins in the lakeside town of Bukoba Monday as religious and political leaders gathered for a ceremony to honor the victims.

Flight PW494, operated by Tanzanian airline Precision Air and carrying 43 people, hit the water in stormy weather as it tried to land at Bukoba airport early Sunday morning, arriving from the capital Dar es Salaam.

Transport Minister Makame Mbarawa told mourners gathered in a stadium that the weather had abruptly changed from good to stormy just as the plane was approaching the airport.

“There was rain accompanied by thunderstorms and heavy wind which had [a] downdraft,” he said, referring to a downward current.

The Tanzanian authorities were investigating the cause of the crash and would publish their findings, he said.

A team from France’s BEA air accident investigation agency along with technical advisers from Franco-Italian plane-maker ATR AIR.PALDOF.MI, which built the ATR 42-500 turboprop, were on their way to Tanzania to assist, a BEA spokesperson said.

CIC PRESS TEAM

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