240 dead in ferry sinking

MORE than 240 people were killed when a crowded ferry sank off Tanzania’s coast yesterday.

Up to 600 people were rescued, indicating that the boat was filled beyond capacity.

Assistant police commissioner Mussa Ali Mussa, the head of police in Zanzibar, said at least 240 people died when the ferry sank yesterday morning.

Relatives had claimed 192 bodies and 28 more were awaiting identification, said Mohammed Aboud Mohammed, the minister for state in the vice-president’s office in Zanzibar. He said about 600 people had been rescued and that the gov-ernment was still looking for the vessel’s captain.