Missing couple: Dar authorities probing ferry passenger list

Tanzanian authorities have added to the confusion surrounding the missing Kenyan couple by saying there are rules requiring all ferry operators to record passenger profiles.

However, sea transport regulations officials and the police said they could not be sure, for now, if the operators captured all the details of passengers aboard the ferry that capsized last month, the time the Kenyan newlyweds disappeared mysteriously.

“According to the manifest of the boat that we received from Dar es Salaam police, there were 300 adult passengers and 31 children on boat, but we still do not know if that was the actual figure. We are still investigating,” said Zanzibar Commissioner of Police Musa Ali via telephone.

Martin Kirimi and his wife of three weeks, Mary Mwangi, had told relatives and friends that they would take a bus from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam and then the ferry to Zanzibar for their honeymoon. They left Nairobi on the morning of Monday, July 17.

But the couple has gone missing since the Zanzibar ferry disaster on July 18, which killed 104 people. Zanzibar is about 27 knots (50km) east of Dar es Salaam and the only way to travel there is by sea or air. The couple had told family and friends that they would go there by road and sea, and then come back by air.

Their family and friends now fear the two might have been aboard the doomed boat, although there is no confirmation.

Passenger manifest

On Friday, the Tanzanian Surface and Marine Transportation Regulatory Authority (Sumatra) stated that all ferry services are required to get the names, seat number, nationality as well as contacts of the next of kin of all passengers boarding their boats.

“They have to maintain a passenger manifest. This involves details of names, ticket numbers and citizenships among other details,” said Sumatra Communications Manager David Mziray.

But Mr Mziray could not confirm whether Ferry operators actually stuck to the rules when dealing with passengers.

“It is compulsory that passengers provide identification documents to get a ticket. But the details of the passengers also depend on the names they provide when booking,” he added.

The private-owned ferry, MV SKagit carrying 291 passengers from Tanzanian commercial capital Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar capsized at around midday. Rescuers managed to save 146 people, 140 passengers died while the rest could not be accounted for.

On Friday, Martin’s brother, Tomothy Kinyua, who travelled to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar at the time of the disaster contradicted Mr Mziray, saying he found only 250 names on the list of passengers who boarded the disastrous boat.

“Most of the names, were in fact, written initials, some had only one name written in full and you could not tell their nationality or where they had come from,” charged Mr Kinyua.

Some Kenyan passengers who have travelled from the Dar port to Zanzibar told the Nation that ferry service providers are usually more concerned with the money than the identity of persons they are carrying, making it difficult to determine their origin, and number, whenever disaster strikes.

“They often do not ask for any identity, as long as you pay. In fact, I bought my ticket through a friend in Dar,” claimed one woman who identified herself as Jeanette and who says she travelled last September.

Contacted, the head of investigations into the ferry accident Abdalla Senti dismissed the claims saying all boats put down the passenger manifests but still refused to state whether the doomed boat had all passenger details captured.

“For now, I cannot respond to that question because we are still investigating the matter. All I can say is all passenger details must be taken in before they travel,” he said.

In Tanzania, boats plying from Dar to Zanzibar, Pemba and Mafia Islands are usually operated by private companies. Most of them hire agents scattered across the islands and Dar to give out tickets. And since the agents are usually bent on making more sales, some sell the tickets without verifying the true identities of travellers.