Tanzania death toll 209 as survivor found in capsized ferry
NAIROBI, Kenya — It was a stunning discovery. As rescue divers probed a capsized Tanzanian ferry two days after the disaster and the death toll soared past 200, a man was found in an air pocket, alive.
He was an engineer, regional commissioner John Mongella told reporters. As the badly overloaded ferry overturned on Thursday in the final stretch before reaching shore, the man shut himself into the engine room, the Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Video footage showed the man, barefoot and head lolling, carried quickly along a busy street by medical workers and military personnel as a siren wailed. His condition was not immediately known.
No further survivors were likely. Search efforts were ending so the focus could turn to identifying the dead, Tanzania’s defence chief Venance Mabeyo told reporters at the scene.