Tanzanian police said this morning a ferry had sunk in its waters on Lake Victoria, with an unknown number of passengers killed.
A Tanzanian newspaper said 28 people, including eight crew members, were killed, but that could not be immediately confirmed.
The paper named the vessel as MV Nyamanga, but police in Mwanza town on the shores of Lake Victoria said the ferry was called MV Nyamageniand operates under the company Dynamic Cotton Ginnery.
Disasters are common on Lake Victoria, the continent's largest lake, because of overcrowding, and poor safety and communication equipment.
Nearly 100 people had lost their lives so far this year on Lake Victoria, according to local media. The lake borders Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.
In Lake Victoria's worst shipping disaster, more than 800 people drowned in May 1996 when a ferry from the Tanzanian port of Bukoba capsized on its way to Mwanza.