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Passengers panic as ferryboat fails to berth
2006-07-18 09:23:20
By George Ramadhani, PST, Mwanza
More than 30 passengers including owners of a number of motor vehicles aboard MV Sengerema, a ferryboat plying between Kigongo in Misungwi District and Busisi in Sengerema district on Lake Victoria, escaped drowning after the vessel that was sailing from Busisi failed to berth at Kigongo jetty last Friday morning.
Reports from the scene of the accident said that the craft owned by the government was salvaged by a rescue boat SAR-2 which towed the fateful ferry to the disembarking platform where passengers and the motor vehicles safely landed.
One of the ferry’s crew identified by one only, Lukambona, confirmed the incident but would not give details, as he was not the spokesperson of the government.
”It is true our craft failed to anchor, but I cannot give details as I am not the spokesperson of the concerned ministry, please see Mmari who is the manager of Technical and Electrical Department and who may be able to give you all the details you need,” he said.
In a telephone conversation, Mmari would not give full details of the near mishap as he had just received petty information about it involving failure to anchor of the MV. Sengerema.
”Up to now I don’t have the details of passengers on board, the tonnage of the goods and the number of motor vehicles that were being ferried, but all that I have been informed is that the craft failed to berth due to mechanical problems,” he said.
He further said that when preparing to berth the vessel experienced some mechanical faults in the engine, and added that the ferry was currently undergoing repairs.
Last December 21, the same ferryboat lost its propeller forcing it to spend more than an hour crossing the creek, a distance usually takes half-an-hour.
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