One end of the Bukoba Airport runway is adjacent to the lake.

Emergency crews use ropes to pull an ATR-42 aircraft out of Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake.

“We need to see if the landing gear is stuck, so we can call for more technical assistance to push it out of the water,” said Albert Chalamila, a senior local official.

Tanzanian President Samia Zuluhu Hassan expressed his condolences to the victims and appealed for calm as the rescue operation continued.

The plane was flying from Tanzania’s largest city, Das es Salaam, to Bukoba via Mwanza.

Abdul Nuri was waiting at the airport for his flight to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city, when he saw the plane crash into Africa’s largest lake.

“We were really shocked. People panicked, some started crying and screaming,” he told the BBC.

“At the arrival gate, people were also panicking – most were waiting to receive their relatives.”

Talked to the fishermen who were the first to arrive at the scene. They told him that a flight attendant opened the tailgate after the plane crashed and was able to board the plane to rescue people.

The disaster, which occurred at 08:50 local time (05:50 GMT), was blamed on bad weather.

Precision Air is the largest private airline in Tanzania and is partly owned by Kenya Airways. Established in 1993, it operates domestic and regional flights.

– This text was originally published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-63533519