A Burundian national and owner of a cargo ship that sunk in Lake Tanganyika on Wednesday 16th, 2022 hailed Tanzania’s navy for a quick and on time to rescue all the eleven crew members who were on board before the ship capsized.
“I thank the army and Tanzanian government in rescuing the crew and provided humanitarian services and all the crew members were taken to the hospital and were given all the necessary attention needed,” Abraham Rafiki Diego the owner of the capsized cargo ship told BurundiTimes.
Mr. Diego is a prominent business man who deals in maritime transport and importation of construction material in Burundi and East Africa.
Raised in Bujumbura neighborhood in a low income family, he strived towards his success through enduring and challenging business environment, “Loss is part of the business the most important thing is that no life lost…we still have other cargo ship that will continue the business and the insurance will be able to cater for the loss and damages,” said Mr. Diego.
According to the cargo ship owner, MV Byamwezi number BY004 registered in Bujumbura (Burundi) on June 21, 2017 started its operation on Lake Tanganyika in the same year with loading capacity of 1897 tons.
At the moment when the cargo ship sunk in the lake it was loaded with 1700tons of clinker, Clinker is a nodular material produced in the kilning stage during the production of cement and is used as the binder in many cement products.
Diego Rafiki told BurundiTimes that on Wednesday around 2pm East African time the weather condition wasn’t favorable for the ship to sail in the middle of its journey to Bujumbura from Mpulungu a town in the northern province of Zambia on the shores of Lake Tanganyika.
“The crew realized the abrupt change of weather on Lake Tanganyika the tried to make an emergency docking unfortunately they couldn’t make it to the nearby port,” said Mr. Diego.