Five people drown to death in a Man-made lake at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, following a boat accident

At least five people have been confirmed dead after drowning in a man-made lake at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Northern Tanzania.

Early reports reveal that the victims were sailing in an overloaded wooden boat, travelling from one village to another across the huge ‘Nyumba ya Mungu’ dam when the make-shift vessel either capsized or simply sank into the water depths.

Witnesses say the boat was carrying more than 12 passengers plus consignment of assorted goods.

The accident reportedly occurred on the section of the Lake striding Mikocheni Village in the Moshi-Rural District.

All the five people who drowned to death are said to be members of the same family, a mother and her three children plus their aunt. They were all residents of Chem-Chem Village of Arusha-Chini Ward of Kilimanjaro.

The deceased were two women, who are sisters and three children, two girls and one boy, that belonged to one of the ladies.

At least seven other people were rescued from the disaster.

The Acting Commander in-charge of Fire and Rescue Department in Kilimanjaro Region, Jeremiah Mkomagi confirmed that five bodies of the dead victims were fished from the Lake.

Seven other people from the ill-fated boat were rescued in time by local fishermen.

It is being reported that the boat was carrying members of the Tanzania Assemblies of God (TAG) church, from Chem-Chem who were traveling to Mikocheni Ndogo village to attend the congregation of women brethren which was taking place there.

It is still not known what the main cause of the boat accident was, considering the fact that Nyumba-ya-Mungu is not exactly that deep and precisely now that the rains have abated.

Nyumba ya Mungu is a man-made lake located at Mwanga district in the Kilimanjaro region with part of it stretching to Simanjiro in Manyara.

The Lake was constructed for the purpose of irrigation, hydro-electric power and to start a local fishing industry

Nyumba ya Mungu reservoir was completed in 1965.

By 1970 there was a thriving tilapia fishery but it declined catastrophically in subsequent years.

A team of biologists surveyed the lake in 1974, and this paper outlines their hydrological, geographical, and climatic findings.

The dam was constructed across a north and south Neogene fault-trough 80 kilometres south of Mount Kilimanjaro.

It has produced a reservoir measuring around180 square kilometres with a mean depth of 6 meters.

The catchment area is extensive but the main source of water is the melting glaciers from the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The lake is situated in an arid area, and over one quarter of the input water evaporates from the lake’s surface.

The outflow is regulated by a hydro-electric power station and is practically constant.

At full capacity the retention time of the lake is one year but during the  abnormally low rainfall, the reservoir is hardly full, and under such a situation, the retention time reduces to nine months or less.

The lake is polymictic and a deep wind-driven current is maintained by the Trade Winds for most of the year.

The general features of Nyumba ya Mungu are briefly compared with other man-made and natural lakes in Africa.