One man died and two others got injured after the boat they were traveling in sank 37 km away from the Dar es Salaam port in the Zanzibar Channel, local press reported on Thursday.

 

The report said most quoted survivors blamed belated rescue efforts.

 

The boat carrying 37 passengers and crew members with 40 tons of cargo, left Dar es Salaam for Zanzibar late on Tuesday and started to sink after having caught in a midnight storm early on Wednesday.

 

Stress messages were sent out after midnight, yet the first rescue boat reaching the scene in the morning was a passenger ferry from Zanzibar.

 

The deceased died on the way to hospital after all had been rescued. The two injured were reported to have taken too much sea water.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2007)