TANZANIA'S FERRY TRAGEDIES

TANZANIA'S ferry disaster death toll rises to 200.

The death toll after a ferry capsized in Lake Victoria has risen to 200, state-run TV station TBC said Saturday as rescue workers pressed on with the search to find scores more people feared drowned.

''Operations resumed early this morning,'' TBC said.

Late Friday, the toll had stood at 131, with 40 people known to have survived after the MV Nyerere capsized close to the pier on Ukara Island on Thursday.

The vessel may have been carrying as many as 200  passengers....doubling the ferry's  capacity   -according to reports on state media.

Tanzanian President Johu Magufuli on Friday ordered the arrest of the management of the ferry.

Witnesses reached by AFP said the  ferry sank when passengers rushed to one side to disembark   -as it approached to dock.

In a speech broadcast on TBC 3 public television. Magufuli said  ''it appears clear that the ferry was overloaded'', adding that  ''negligence has cost us many lives, children, mothers, students, old people''.

''I ordered the arrest of all those involved in the management of the ferry. The arrests have already begun,'' he added.

The President declared  four  days of  national mourning and said the government would cover the funeral expenses of the victims.

Hope are fading that more survivors may still be found.

State television cited witnesses reporting that more than 200 people had boarded the  ferry at Bugolora , a town on the larger Ukerewe Island, where it was market day when locals said the vessel was usually packed with people and goods.

''Since my birth, people have gone to their deaths on this lake, but are we to do?  We did not choose to be born here, we have nowhere to go,'' said Sebastian John, a teacher. [Agencies]

The World Students Society expresses its profound sorrow with people of Tanzania, students, professors and teachers.