Death toll in Tanzania floods rises to 63, prime minister says
- PM Kassim Majaliwa said on Monday: ‘We are here in front of bodies of our fellows. We have lost 63 loved ones. My fellow Tanzanians, this is a tragedy’
- Severe flooding in East African countries including Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania has forced hundreds of thousands from their homes since October
The death toll from floods in northern Tanzania following torrential rains this weekend has risen to 63, the prime minister said on Monday, adding to hundreds of other deaths caused by extreme weather in East Africa since seasonal rains began in October.
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said in comments broadcast on television that the number of injured stood at 116 people. Landslides had destroyed half of one village he visited, he said.
“We are here in front of bodies of our fellows. We have lost 63 loved ones. Of the total fellows we lost, 23 are men and 40 are women,” he said during an event to bid farewell to the bodies of those who had died in Hanang district, northern Tanzania.
“My fellow Tanzanians, this is a tragedy,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, President Samia Suluhu Hassan had put the number of dead at 57 and those injured and receiving treatment at 85.
Zuhura Yunus, a spokeswoman for her office, said the floods and landslides had affected 1,150 households, or 5,600 people, with 750 acres of farmland destroyed.