08 November 2022

• The plane was flying from Dar es Salaam to Bukoba with a total of 43 people on board.

• A total of 19 people lost their lives.

Two days after a Precision Airline aircraft crash landed into Lake Victoria on Sunday morning (at 08:53 local time) its wreckage has finally been pulled from the waters.

The plane (Flight PW494,) which was flying from Dar es Salaam to Bukoba with a total of 43 people on board, (all who have been accounted for; 24 survivors and 19 fatalities) took a turn for the airport but missed it due to terrible weather and went into the lake.

After days of trying, rescuers have finally pulled the plane wreckage from the water with half of its front body badly shredded due to the impact of the crash.

Two days ago a viral video started doing rounds online showing the aftermath of the aeroplane crash-landing in Lake Victoria.

Millard Ayo, one of Tanzania's biggest and most respected entertainment sites got footage of the submerged plane in East Africa's largest water body.

Sharing the footage, the Tanzanian blog added that the plane had crash-landed in Bukoba, Kagera while preparing to land.

“Hii ni moja ya video zilizorekodiwa na Mashuhuda wa ajali ya Ndege ya Precision Air inayodiwa kuanguka leo asubuhi Bukoba, Kagera wakati ikijiandaa kutua.

(This is one of the videos recorded by the Witnesses of the Precision Air plane crash that was supposed to crash this morning in Bukoba, Kagera while preparing to land)"

Videos and pictures on social media showed the plane almost fully submerged, with only its green and brown-coloured tail visible above the waterline of Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake.

As reported by Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) on Sunday morning, the passenger plane had left Dar es Salaam heading to Bukoba through Mwanza .

The plane that had 39 passengers and 4 crew members according to Tanzania's prime minister Kassim Majaliwa following the crash resulted to the death of 19 individuals.

"Tunasikitika kwamba tumepoteza ndugu zetu kumi na tisa kwenye zoezi la uokozi (We are sorry for the loss of 19 people, identified during the recovery mission)," he said.

Precision Air is Tanzania's largest private airline operating domestic and regional flights having been founded in 1993.

The ill-fated plane is said to have been 12 years old.