Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has ordered authorities to employ a fisherman who led a rescue mission for passengers after the Precision Air crashed into Lake Victoria on Sunday morning.
A statement by the Prime Minister’s (PM) 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.
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 freshwater lake by surface area.
“The fisherman should be trained in rescue missions,” said PM Kassim Majaliwa in the statement.
The prime minister added in the statement “The presidential employment offer to the fisherman came 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”.
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.
