Divers from the Tanzania People's Defense Forces and the Zanzibar KMKM Field Force Unit recovered three more bodies from the sunken passenger boat and cargo ship at the Malindi Port of Zanzibar, authorities said on Sunday, Xinhua reported.
Six bodies have so far been recovered but authorities said the divers have confirmed that there are four other bodies still in the wreckage underwater. These bodies are pressed down by timber which was carried by the cargo ship.
The passenger boat and cargo ship capsized to sink at the Malindi Port of Zanzibar three days ago while trying to dock to the port facilities.
The captain of the ill-fated passenger boat said there were 25 registered passengers on his boat which also had 13 crew staff.
Earlier reports said there were at least 50 people on that passenger boat.
So far 28 people have been rescued from the passenger boat.
Hamza Hassan Juma, Zanzibar minister of state in the chief minister's office, assured the public that the rescue operation would continue until the restoration of the passenger boat from its upside-down position to recover all bodies.
The minister of state refuted the concept that the passenger boat had sunken due to overloading, saying the boat is licensed to carry 200 passengers and 300 tons of goods.
It was the first such fatal sea transport accident in Zanzibar which has regular ferry services linking up with Dar es Salaam, Tanga on the mainland and with Pemba, the other major island of the Indian Ocean archipelago of Zanzibar.
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