More than 345 people are feared dead when a passenger and cargo ship capsized overnight between two islands in Zanzibar, the semi-autonomous republic of Tanzania.
The ship was travelling Friday night from Zanzibar to Pemba, the sister island when it capsized at Nungwi area.
According to Zanzibar Deputy Minister of Communication and Infrastructure Issa Haji Ussi, 250 people have been so far rescued out of the over 600 people on board.
Rescue efforts are continuing while the bodies retrieved are being brought to Zanzibar National Ground to enable the people who have lost their relatives, to identify them.
Reports said the cause of the accident is due to overload of passengers and cargo, but other report said technical fault cannot be ruled out at this stage.
Zanzibar government has termed the accident, the worst of its kind, as disaster for the whole nation.