Six Drown as Vehicle Swept into Raging River

Six people have drowned while five others, including the driver, cheated death after the vehicle in which they were travelling in was swept when trying to cross the flooded Koga River Bridge on the border between Katavi and Tabora regions.

The flooding has cut off the road along bridge, which connects Mpanda Town in Katavi Region and Sikonge Town in Tabora Region.

Katavi Region Police Commander Dhahri Kidavashari told the “Daily News” over the phone from Mpanda that the deceased included two women and four children whose names could not immediately be established.

The RPC said that the incident occurred on Tuesday at around 6:00 pm at Koga area where several vehicles, including lorries, were stuck and several passengers, including mothers and children, were stranded.

Such a situation has caused great challenges to the stranded passengers, mostly women and children, as they are forced to spend the night in the area waiting for the flood waters to recede.

It was at this scenario when a Toyota Pick Up with registration numbers T 597 BTC arrived at the Koga Bridge heading to Mpanda in Katavi Region from Tabora and six stranded people, among them two women and four children, had been given a lift in the car.

The driver of the ill-fated vehicle, the owner/businessman was identified as Mabarik Seif, from Mpanda Municipality. “Seeing several lorries crossing the flooding river without measuring the volume of water, Seif (46) tried his luck by overtaking the lorries, which were crossing the bridge. But when the vehicle reached the middle of the bridge, strong currents hit the car, sweeping it away.

In fact, the rains had stopped in the Koga vicinity. But the river remained flooded following torrential rains in other areas in Mbeya and Tabora regions,’’ explained the RPC.

Mr Kidavashari, said after the vehicle, which had 11 passengers, overturned and plunged into the river, the driver and a passenger identified as Elias Kashinje (22), managed to swim to the banks.

“The other passengers were carried away by the strong waters about 50 metres away from the bridge. Fortunately, they clung to the trees branches and eventually were rescued by a fisherman around the area, who had a canoe,” he narrated.

The RPC further confirmed that all the bodies of the six people who drowned have not yet been found. It is believed that they were swept upstream by the raging waters.