Tanzania orders arrests as ferry death toll climbs
September 22, 2018
Tanzanian President John Magufuli has ordered the arrest of the management of a ferry that capsized on Lake Victoria, killing more than 200 people. One man was pulled alive from an air pocket in the overturned vessel.
Image: DW/M. Magessa
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A survivor has been found two days after a packed ferry capsized on Tanzania's Lake Victoria, killing more than 200 people.
An engineer was pulled to safety from an air pocket near the engine of the upturned vessel and rushed to hospital, an official said. The man's condition was not immediately clear.
On Saturday, the death toll climbed to 207, according to state-owned broadcaster TBC. That figure was still expected to rise as scores of people remain missing or trapped in the overturned ferry.
Search efforts are ongoing around the ferry's exposed underside as bodies continued to float to the surface around the ship and families of victims prepared to claim the dead.
It is unknown how many passengers were aboard the MV Nyerere, but some estimates suggested there were more than 300 passengers, far above the ship's capacity of 101 people.
"This is a great disaster for our nation," President John Magufuli said in an address to the nation on TBC. "We have directed that all individuals who were involved in causing this accident to be arrested."
"I have information that some have been arrested, including the captain, who, I am told, was not on board."
The Tanzanian leader, who declared four days of mourning, urged calm in the East African country, which has a history of deadly maritime disasters. At least 500 people were killed when a ferry capsized on Lake Victoria in 1996.
Magufuli said on Friday initial investigations showed that the cause of the accident was overloading, The Citizen reported.
He said even the cargo on board exceeded the weight for which the vessel was certified.
The Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania is Africa's largest wildlife reserve and a World Natural Heritage site. But will it remain one? The government wants to build a dam there. Environmentalists are raising the alarm.
Image: WWF Deutschland/Astrid Dill
Pristine wilderness
The Selous Game Reserve is one of the Earth’s largest nature reserves and the biggest in Africa. It covers 50,000 square kilometers (31,000 miles) of steppes and savannah over several regions of southeast Tanzania. The park is home to hippos, elephants, giraffes, buffalo, lions, crocodiles, cheetahs, antelopes and more than 400 bird species.
Image: WWF Deutschland/Astrid Dill
Colonial past
The wildlife reserve was created by the German colonial power in 1896. After taking over the colony, Great Britain amplified the reserve and named it after Frederick Selous, an English officer and big game hunter. He was killed in World War 1 and buried in the park. In 1982, UNESCO declared the reserve a World Natural Heritage due to its unique fauna and flora.
Image: Imago/BE&W
World heritage at risk
UNESCO and several conservancy organizations consider the unique ecosystem in Selous to be at serious risk. Three years ago, the reserve was placed on the "red list" of threatened World Heritage sites. Despite protests by the Tanzanian government, UNESCO recently decided to keep it on the list.
Image: WWF Deutschland/Astrid Dill
A dam in the reserve?
The Rufiji River is a lifeline of the reserve. It crosses Selous for 600 kilometers (370 miles) and flows into the Indian Ocean south of Dar es Salam. Recently. President John Magufuli announced that he would build a dam that has been in the planning for decades "as soon as possible". Electricity is scarce in Tanzania and the president wants the Rufiji River to generate power.
Image: WWF Deutschland/Michael Poliza
Wall in the nature
"That would be a terrible blow for nature," said the nature conservation organization World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Plans for the dam include a wall 130 meters (142 yards) high and 700 meters (766 yards) long in the so-called 'Stiegler Canyon.' It will create a lake of more than 1,000 square kilometers (621 square miles), flooding an area larger than Berlin.
Image: WWF Deutschland/Greg Armfield
"Industrialization of the wilderness"
Erecting the dam implies building roads, industrial plants and residences for workers in the game reserve. The WWF fears "the destruction of pristine wilderness and one of the most important habitats for endangered species." Plans for the construction of the dam are likely to turn into a headache for the German government too.
Image: WWF Deutschland/Michael Poliza
Germany's bid to preserve Selous
A day before Magufuli’s announcement that the dam would be built soon, his government and the German ambassador in Tanzania signed the "Selous Conservation and Development Program", Secad for short. It is meant to protect and conserve the park as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage. Germany paid 18 million euros for the project.
Image: Getty Images/MCT/A. Anderson
Uranium extraction in the south
Criticism is also being aimed at concessions by Tanzania’s government for the exploitation of oil and gas reserves, and one uranium mine at the southern end of Selous. Radioactive material is to be extracted on the headwaters of the Rufiji. The first holes have already been drilled. The WWF has warned that this could contaminate the river and reach the groundwater.
Poaching under control?
The Tanzanian government rejects all criticism and points to its success in fighting poaching instead. It is true that the number of elephants in Selous has increased somewhat. There used to be more than 100,000. But poaching and contraband of ivory reached such a scale that between 1982 and 2014, nearly 90 percent of the elephants were lost.
Commercial game hunting is allowed in Selous. It is a source of revenue for the reserve and most of the 1.2 million people who live at the edge of the park. In some areas in the north no hunting is allowed. The areas can however be visited by tourists on a safari. But there are significantly less visitors than to Serengeti National Park, although the Selous Game Reserve is three times as large.
