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Elias Msuya
The Citizen Correspondent
Wete. For Rashid Abdallah, the recent ferry boat disaster in Zanzibar will go down in history as the worst experience in memory. “It is a nightmare that I will go to the grave with,” he says of the ship that capsized early last month.
The father of several children who has two wives comes from one of the hardest hit families in the September 10 marine accident near Nungwi.
In total, the family lost 26 people, believed to be among those who could not escape from the bowels of the ill-fated vessel, now lying deep on the floor of the Indian Ocean.
“There were 30 close relatives in that ferryboat when it went under, but only four of them survived. We found bodies of three others, but the rest have since not been accounted for,” he said in an interview at his home at Wete District in Pemba.
The district lost hundreds of its inhabitants in the accident, with reports indicating over 800 local residents may have died. The failure to retrieve the ferry has made accurate accounts impossible. Up to now, official statistics show that 203 people perished, and some 600 were rescued.
No one knows the exact number of people who were in the overloaded vessel. This is one of the mysteries that a commission formed by the Zanzibar government is expected to unravel when it finally tables its findings.
Mr Abdallah says as a family, they have tried in vain to fathom why such a cruel calamity befell them shortly after one of his sisters was killed in a motorcycle accident. The family members were headed to Pemba for mourning on the fateful night when the ship disaster struck.
“There is not a single family here that was not affected by the tragedy, it is a harsh situation for everyone in Zanzibar,” he said.
He narrated that on the night of the accident, they received a call at 2am about the ferry’s sinking. “When it downed on us in the morning that our loved ones had died, we realized that many more relatives were also missing. We never stopped mourning.”
Abdallah accuses the government of Zanzibar for apparent negligence in supervision of transportation issues, especially marine transport.
“Though the almighty God planned all this to occur, the government has been negligent. The incident began at the port and all who were concerned realised the risk, but the government didn’t take any action. Even those who were rescued got assistance late,” he says.
He also claimed that the government has forsaken Pemba people, noting: “Most of vessels travelling from Unguja to Pemba are not qualified to carry passengers, but no measures are taken. However, they make sure that vessels travelling between Unguja to Dar es Salaam are those qualified to carry passengers and are always inspected. This is because we are Pemba people. The government is mistreating us.”
Mwajuma Omar of Kipangani Ward in Wete District has the same story. She lost six members of her family. Some were her children and others her grand children.
Explaining, she says that she contacted her son before he left Unguja port at 9pm, and at 11pm her grandson called to say they had already sailed away. But at 2pm her husband received another call…..
“They called their father at midnight and told him that they were sinking. Until now we have never seen their dead bodies,” she narrated with tears in her face.
How the vessel sunk
Salim Mohammed Rashid, a victim from Chake Chake in Pemba, says the vessel started its journey peacefully from Dar es Salaam at 10am, headed to Unguja, where she arrived at 4pm.
Rashid, who is a businessman supplying vegetables from the mainland to Zanzibar, says passengers who embarked in Dar es Salaam were few, but when they reached Unguja port the vessel got loaded with more passengers and luggage.
“The vessel started to load passengers and luggage from 5pm until 9pm. The cargoes included building materials, food stuffs and other items,” he says.
Apparently overloaded, the vessel tilted on the right side while at the Unguja port, alarming the passengers. “We warned sailors and other port officials about the situation. We told them, ‘you are going to kill us in the waters’, but they reassured us that the slanting was a common situation, and that the vessel would be balanced soon after leaving the port,” added Rashid.
According to him, the overloaded vessel left the port slowly. They saw the lights of Mjini Magharibi fading away after they approached the dark deep-sea waters at night.
“I was in front of the vessel that night with other passengers. The journey continued for some hours until 1am, when the slanting of the ship became frightening… “And suddenly, we heard voices, ‘we are dying’, ‘we are dying’, we are dying’. We went behind to see what was happening. We saw plenty water pouring into the vessel and some sailors were busy scooping it as the passengers continued shouting… “Then we heard the voice of the captain saying, ‘you won’t die, please remain in your place, the situation will be addressed.”
But the situation became worse when the generators and the engine switched off and darkness engulfed the entire place.“The sailors had failed to remove water; more water poured in, and people started to drop themselves in the ocean to save their lives…”
“In order to save my life, I ran to the front of the vessel where there were mattresses. I took one and drop with it into the sea. By that time people were scattered in the sea; I saw some of them, still on the top of the sinking vessel, trying to phone their families about the incident. And slowly the vessel disappear into the deep ocean,” Rashid narrated.
After a long period of waiting, Rashid was finally rescued at 10am the following day, far away from the scene of accident.
“There were just two of us holding the mattress desperately. Suddenly, we saw a vessel coming to us. It was special for rescuing the victims. They took us out of the sea. It was a miracle…” he says.
Where is the captain?
After the vessel started sinking, a question remained as to the whereabouts of the captain. Did he perish like other passengers? Did he escape? The Police Force said they were still looking for him, identifying him as Said Kinyanyite, a resident of Mbagala Charambe in Dar es Salaam. However some people who requested to remain anonymous said they saw him under police custody the same day.
Government response
Talking about the disaster, the Zanzibar Infrastructure and Communication minister, Hamad Masoud Hamad, denied any conspiracy or sabotage, saying it was God’s will. “It was just an accident and it has already happened,” he said.
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