Tanzania floods: Death toll rises to 38By MKINGA MKINGA | Saturday, December 24  2011 at  15:06

Some 15 more bodies have recovered from the Tanzanian flood rabbles putting the official death count to 38 people.

Among the bodies, seven were received at Muhimbili National Hospital and four at Mwananyamala district hospital. Yesterday, it had been reported that 23 people died. The other foru were discovered later this morning.

According to Jeza Waziri, the Muhumbili National hospital spokesperson, seven dead bodies were preserved at the hospital, while two have been identified by relatives.

He said two dead bodies which have been identified are Juma Ibrahim (28) and Abdallah Salum (22) both residents of Jangwani valley. Those at Mwananyamala had not been identified.
In his comments the Mwananyamala health secretary Edwin Bisakala said out of four dead bodies three are adults while the other is a child of about three years.
He said the dead bodies which were brought at the hospital for preservation, were from Hananasif in Kinondoni and one from Kawe.

There was confusion yesterday over the number of casualties and deaths caused by floods as victims confirmed that some people were still missing.

The victims, who stay in various emergency camps in the city said that some people have not been seen and that they were not sure if they were still alive or not.
Many people are believed to have been swept out to sea by the torrents, which also turned houses and bridges to mud, toppled trees and overturned vehicles.

High tide
Ms Zakia Mohamed, a resident of Mchikichini said there were various reports on the missing people in Kigogo and Mchikichini areas and that the possibility of increasing of death numbers was high.
“Many people have been looking for their fellows, our neighbours are not seen, I think the number of death will increase,” said Ms Mohamed.

The victims added that it was obvious there were still many bodies in the Jangwani valley and that at least two bodies were recovered early in the morning.
Mr Abdullah Lwambaizi said the bodies could not be immediately identified by nearby residents and that it was obvious the deceased were taken by water from far.

Explaining why so many lives were lost so quickly, Mr Lwambaizi who was saved by members of TPDF said: "It happened when most of us were still in bed and many of us were used to such situation, but unexpectedly the rain poured hard while it was high tide and therefore we found ourselves surrounded by water,”.