Tanzanian president offers job to fisherman for rescuing passengers in Lake Victoria plane crash

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | Xinhua | Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has ordered authorities to employ a fisherman who led a rescue mission for passengers after their plane crashed into Lake Victoria on Sunday morning, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said on Monday.

A statement by the Prime Minister’s Office said President Hassan has ordered the Ministry of Home Affairs to employ the fisherman identified as Majaliwa Jackson in the Tanzania Fire and Rescue Force.

Local media reports said the fisherman led other fishermen in rescuing passengers shortly after the plane had crashed on the shores of Lake Victoria, the world’s second-largest fresh water lake by surface area.

“The fisherman should be trained in rescue mission,” said Majaliwa in the statement.

The prime minister announced the presidential employment offer to the fisherman when he led thousands of mourners that paid final respects to 19 passengers who were killed in the plane crash in Bukoba district in Kagera region, said the statement.

The statement said 17 passengers and two pilots were killed after Precision Air’s ATR-48 aircraft crash landed in Lake Victoria on Sunday at around 8:20 a.m. local time as it approached Bukoba airport from the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam.

The statement said a total of 24 people, including 22 passengers and two cabin crew members, were rescued.

Majaliwa said President Hassan also directed that the funerals for the crash victims will be covered by the government.

Meanwhile, the Kagera regional commissioner, Albert Chalamila, said the plane was pulled out of the lake on Sunday night.