136 dead in Tanzania boat capsize

At least 100 people have died and hundreds are reported missing after a boat capsized on Lake Victoria in Tanzania on Thursday.

Officials say the number of drowned could be more than 200. Recovery efforts have resumed after being put on hold overnight.

According to reports the vessel was carrying more than 400 passengers while its capacity was only 100.

About 100 people were rescued while 37 are said to be in a critical condition.

The death toll on Thursday was 44 while 42 more deaths were confirmed on Friday, said Mwanza Regional Commissioner John Mongella.

Tanzania has a history of dangerously overcrowded vessels.

In 2011, 187 people  died when an overcrowded ferry carrying at least 800 sank off the coast of the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar. In 2012, 145 were killed after another vessel capsized at the same lake. The worst ferry accidents in the last century occurred at Lake Victoria in 1996 that killed 800 people.

(Featured image:BBC.com)