Tanzania's leader orders arrests as ferry death toll passes 200

Tanzania's state broadcastersays the death toll from a capsized ferry on Lake Victoria has risen to 218,while wooden coffins arrived at the scene.

The government's Chief Secretary John Kijazi spoke to reporters after TanzanianPresident John Magufuli ordered the arrests of those allegedly responsible for the disaster.

The badly overloaded ferry capsized in the final stretch before shore on Thursday afternoon as people returning from a busy market day shifted and prepared to disembark.

Four navy divers resumed their search inside the sunken MVNyerere earlySaturday after hearing sounds that suggestedsigns of life.

They pulled one man out of the overturned ship and he wasrushed to hospital, a Reuters witness said. His condition wasnot immediately known.

Dozens of relatives stood crying by the shoreline as they waited for information on their loved ones. Coffins were lined up nearby awaiting bodies being pulled from the vessel, which lay belly up in the water just metres from the shoreline.

"The ferry overturned very fast and covered us," survivor Charles Ngarima told Reuters. "I was lucky that I was able to swim under water not knowing where I was swimming to."

Initial estimates suggested there were more than 300people on board when ferrycapsized just a few metres fromthe dock onUkerewe, the lake's biggest island.

State-owned Habari Leo reported on its website on Friday that top officials of the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority would be questioned about the accident.

Preliminary investigations, showed the ferryhad carried more passengers than its capacity permitted, the paper said.

Thirty-seven people havebeen rescued from the lake, said JonathanShana, the regional police commander for the port of Mwanza onthe south coast of the lake.

Works, Transport and Communication Minister Isack Kamwelwesaid the government was sending special equipment to aid therescue effort.

"This equipment will increase efficiency in the rescue operation and we will continue with the search until we are satisfied that we have rescued everyone," he told Reuters.

With files from Reuters