Blandina Godfrey
A day has passed since the drowning incident of a young man believed to be in his 30s jumped off the ferry and drowned in the ocean .
The incident happened on January 21, 2024 on the Zanzibar 3 ferry which was travelling from Pemba to Unguja.
Sheikha Ahmed Mohammed ,Director of Zanzibar Maritime Authority(ZMA) explained that the man , jumped overboard and the ferry circled three times in an attempt to rescue him but it was unsuccessful.
“Vessles and other fishing boats were used in search for him , all but to no avail mainly due to bad weather.” Mohammed, however assured that the search is still ongoing as issues of rescue are of national interest and that all available options would be utilized to find the young man.
“We have tried as much as we can to ensure that we find the body of the deceased but due to the bad weather we have not been able to succeed, but this is not the end of our work, we will make sure that we find him today so everything will be fine” said Shekha Ahmed Mohammed.
Sources say ,the brother of the drown man , upon arrival to the port, confirm to authorities that his brother was mentally derailed.
The Minister of Works , Transport and Communication ,Dr. Khalid Salum Muhamed said, after efforts were made on Sunday to find him failed ,the search team have resume in earnest to ensure he is found today.Dr. Muhammed , promised to update the public on the unfortunate situation.
Incidents of people drowning in the country , are slowly becoming frequent.. In November 11,for instance,the report of the drowning of a 17-year-old Awadhi Matondo who drowned immediately after playing football with his four friends on the Indian Ocean beach in the Kigamboni , left many shock.
Tanzania has significant drowning rates with 2.2 deaths per 100,000 people. A study of fishing communities on the Tanzanian shores of Lake Victoria estimates that 5 fishers drown every day in the Tanzanian sector of Lake Victoria and these deaths have profound effects on the community, pegging the drowning fatality rate of 217 per 100,000, with 87% of adult deaths occurring while fishing from boats.
Globally drowning causes more than 236,000 deaths and over 50 percent of the deaths claims lives of person under 30 years old. Most of them drown when they in their daily economic activities, chiefly fishing and transport on water ways. World Health Organization(WHO) has been working to prevent drowning for the past 10 years and have been very active in South East Asia and Pacific. In East African countries, deaths from drowning involve people that are in modes of transport on waterways.
The United Nations resolution on Global Drowning Prevention points out the importance of the scale of drowning worldwide and encouraged member states to adopt WHO recommended interventions to prevent drowning.
