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DAR ES SALAAM – At least 13 people, most of them small children, drowned and seven others were missing after a boat capsized on Lake Tanganyika, Tanzanian police said Thursday.

The 11 children who drowned in Wednesday’s accident, all aged between two and five, were travelling to a clinic in a nearby village in the south of the country to get vaccinated.

Ten of the 30 passengers swam to shore or were rescued, regional police commander Jacob Mwaruanda told AFP.

Mwarunada said the boat’s maximum capacity was 25 passengers.

“Both the boat captain and its owner disappeared after the accident, but we are still hunting them,” the police chief said.

Boat accidents are common in the region where many vessels are poorly maintained and chronically overloaded. – AFP.