At least 100 killed after passenger ferry capsizes on Lake Victoria

A regional official says at least 44 people have died. Credit: ITV Tanzania

More than 100 people are now reported to have died after a passenger ferry capsized on Tanzania's Lake Victoria.

Regional officials revised the death toll as rescue efforts resumed on Friday, with more people still missing.

Thirty-seven people were rescued after the sinking on Thursday afternoon.

The ferry was travelling between the islands of Ukara and Bugolora and capsized near Mwanza.

The Tanzania Electrical, Mechanical and Electronics Services Agency, which is in charge of servicing the vessels, urged patience as rescue efforts continued.

Such ferries often carry hundreds of people and are regularly overcrowded.

Accidents are often reported on the large freshwater lake surrounded by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

Some of the deadliest have occurred in Tanzania, where passenger boats are often said to be old and in poor condition.

In 1996, more than 800 people were killed when the passenger and cargo ferry MV Bukoba sank on Lake Victoria.

Nearly 200 people died in 2011 when the MV Spice Islander I sank off Tanzania's Indian Ocean coast near Zanzibar.