Nearly 200 people have drowned after a ferry capsized off the popular east African tourist destination of Zanzibar, over 100 people are still missing.
Survivors said that the vessel was overcrowded and appeared to be in trouble even before it started its ill-fated voyage.
One mother who lost her two children said that the ferry was clearly faulty even before they started the journey at the Zanzibar port last night.
She said 'it was leaning to one side. A few of the passengers managed to get off the ship after noticing that it was tilting.'
She said 'we also tried to disembark, but the ship's crew quickly removed the ladder and started sailing towards Pemba.'
Fishing boats, tour operators and diving instructors spent the night scouring the sea off the coast of Tanzania looking for survivors, many clinging to strewn cargo.
Zanzibar police spokesman Mohamed Mhina told Reuters 192 bodies had been recovered and 606 passengers rescued from the Indian Ocean so far.
"There is a possibility that more bodies still remain at sea. Rescue workers are still searching for survivors and retrieving bodies," he said.
Two tug boats docked at Zanzibar's port, one carrying 17 bodies and another with 15 bodies.
Many of the dead are children.
At the northern tip of the island, dozens of soldiers carried bodies onto white sand beaches, where thousands of people anxiously awaited news of survivors.
Zanzibar Police Commissioner Mussa Alli Mussa said early today that more than 500 people were on the ship's manifest.
Abdual Said, registrar of Zanzibar's seafaring vessels, said the MV Spice Islander was licensed to carry 600 passengers.
The vessel had been sailing from Zanzibar to Pemba, the two main islands of the Zanzibar archipelago, a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania and popular beach destination for tourists.
Rescue worker Ramadhan said a lack of equipment was hampering rescue operations.
A stream of military trucks is bringing in bodies to the Maisara football grounds in Zanzibar's main city, where tens of thousands of people gathered to identify the dead.
Emergency workers covered bodies in dark blankets and placed the victims' clothes on top so relatives could identify them.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the main Mnazi Mmoja Hospital where medical workers read out the names of survivors and posted lists on hospital walls.
At the tourist destination of Nungwi at the northern tip of Zanzibar, fishing boats and diving vessels ferried survivors ashore. Crowds waded waist deep into the water as the boats approached, desperately seeking relatives.
A parent in Mkoani on Pemba island was already mourning his three children who were aboard. "I had two sons and a daughter coming back to Pemba from a school holiday break ... I am fearing for the worst," said Juma Bakar.
The government in Zanzibar said last month it planned to invest in bigger, more reliable vessels to ferry passengers between the two islands.
