At Least 42 People Have Drowned After a Ferry Capsized in Lake Victoria, Tanzania

At least 42 people have died after a ferry capsized on Lake Victoria in Tanzania on Thursday—a toll officials fear could rise to as many 200, Reuters reports.

Estimates indicate that the boat was carrying more than 300 people, but the exact number remains unclear as the ticket machine went down with the vessel, according to the ferry operator.

The boat sank in the afternoon near the dock at Ukerewe district. The BBC quoted local officials as saying that about 100 people had been rescued with 32 in critical condition.

Tanzania has a history of dangerously overcrowded vessels.

In 2011, an overcrowded ferry carrying at least 800 sank off the coast of the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar, killing 187 people.

In 2012, another overcrowded vessel transporting people from the same island sank and killed 145.

In 1996, a ferry disaster on Lake Victoria killed at least 800 people in one of the worst ferry accidents in the last century, according to the BBC.