At least 19 people have been killed and others three are missing after a collision involving two boats on the Tanzanian part of Lake Tanganyika, according to a new official report released on Sunday.

The regional manager of river and maritime transport services, Amaniel Sekulu told AFP “The accident took place on Friday at dawn when a boat carrying 135 passengers collided with another with 63 people on board,”

“So far, rescue services have been able to get out of the water 19 dead bodies,” said an official on Sunday to AFP who had given an initial assessment of 13 people killed Saturday night. Three bodies have still not been recovered.

The accident took place on Friday at dawn when a boat carrying 135 passengers collided with another with 63 people on board.

The 19 people killed were on board the boat carrying 135 members of a Pentecostal church who were attending a religious retreat.

Lake Tanganyika is the second oldest freshwater lake in the world, second largest by volume, and the second deepest after Lake Baikal in Siberia.

it is also the world’s longest freshwater lake with an area of 31,900 km2, surrounded by four countries namely: Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Zambia..

AFP