FLAVIANA donates 500 LIFE JACKETS in remembrance of fallen victims in FATAL MV Bukoba accident 16 years ago.

I remembered when this happened I was on break from school in Bukoba and it was chilling just seeing the pictures and hearing the news of floating dead bodies everywhere. Taking these ferries at that time was the best way to travel to Dar es salaam. You got on the ship overnight and either booked a flight, train or bus to head to Bongo. For women and children you had no option but just to follow orders but I hope this brings light to safety standards everywhere. Nowadays it's the crowded buses that cause several fatalities but it's nice to see her going back and remembering the victims. She lost her mother in this tragedy so it's a CAUSE that impacts her each and everyday. Pole! 

MV Bukoba was a Lake Victoria Ferry that carried passengers and cargo between the Tanzanian ports of Bukoba and Mwanza. On 21 May 1996 she sank with great loss of life, reported as up to 1000 passengers drowned. 

MV Bukoba was built in about 1979 and had capacity for 850 tons of cargo and 430 passengers^[1]. The manifest showed 443 passengers in her first and second class cabins, but her cheaper third class accommodation had no manifest.

Flaviana during the rememberance ceremony with officials paying homage to the fallen victims and also receiving life jackets that would make a great difference in case of another incident

Possible causes were identified by Captain Joseph Muguthi, formerly a captain in the Kenya Navy. He labelled it an accident waiting to happen, as Lake Victoria ferries disregarded safety regulations. Specifically:

1. lack of life jackets, life rings and life boats
2. lack of fire fighting equipment
3. lack of distress signals
4. what equipment there is, is not regularly checked
5. the vessels are not regularly dry docked for routine maintenance and repairs
6. the vessels are not regularly inspected
7. the coxswain are not licensed to navigate

More overarchingly, Muguthi blamed the incident on governments' marine departments being staffed by civil servants and politicians who have no understanding of ships and marine decisions.

The lack of equipment and divers were partially to blame for slowness in the salvage operation. Rescue teams from South Africa including Navy divers, were flown in to salvage the ship and retrieve bodies.

President Benjamin Mkapa declared three days of national mourning. Criminal charges were brought against nine officials, including the captain and the manager of TRC's Marine Division

16 years prior she lost her MOTHER in this tragedy, these jackets would have saved numerous people if the officials would have paid attention to the safety regulations