BUKOBA ferry

[aukepalmhof]

Built as a ferry under yard No 116 by the Fulton Marine yard at Ruisbroek, Belgium for the Tanzanian Railways Corporation.
20 October 1978 launched under the name BUKOBA.
Tonnage 800 grt, 120 dwt, dim. 59.5 x 9.4m., length bpp. 54.8m.
Powered by one diesel engine ?hp, speed 12.5 knots.
Accommodation for 430 passengers.
She was transported in sections from Belgium to Tanzania and re-erected at Mwanza, Tanzania.
July 1979 completed.

Used for the transport of passengers and cargo on Lake Victoria.
21 May 1996 the BUKOBA underway from Bukoba to Mwanza in a position 30 kilometres from Mwanza sank, with the loss of around 1.000 people, official 114 people survived the sinking.
The lack of rescue equipment on board and overloading was partly to blame for the high loss of life.
Divers had to be flown in from South Africa to retrieve the bodies trapped inside the hull of the sunken vessel.
It was one of the largest shipping disasters on Lake Victoria.

Tanzania 1997 140sh sg?, scott1608. 350sh sg?, scott1609. 500sh MSsg?, scott1612

Source: Marine News 1979/357. Miramar and other web-sites.

[D. v. Nieuwenhuijzen]

16 cyl. Caterpillar diesel: 1035 bhp. (761 kW) 12¾ kn. 92 bht, 308 deckpassengers, IMO.7636511, classed LR until 06-02-'81.

LR88/89

[Arturo]

M/V Bukoba

Tanzania, 1997