<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The death toll from Sunday's plane crash in Lake Victoria in Tanzania has jumped to 19, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said, after the Precision Air flight plunged into water while approaching the northwestern city of Bukoba.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>"All Tanzanians are with you in mourning the 19 people who lost lives during this accident," Majaliwa told a crowd after arriving at Bukoba airport, where the flight had been scheduled to land from financial capital Dar es Salaam.</div><div><br></div><div>Rescuers have pulled 26 survivors to safety after the Precision Air plane crashed due to bad weather, with 43 people, including 39 passengers, aboard flight PW 494 from the financial capital Dar es Salaam to the lakeside city, according to regional authorities.</div><div><br></div><div>The aircraft was an ATR 42-500, manufactured by Toulouse-based Franco-Italian firm ATR.</div><div><br></div><div>Precision Air, a publicly-listed company which is Tanzania's largest private airline, said it had dispatched rescuers to the scene.</div><div><br></div><div>"An investigation team consisting of Precision Air technical staff and TAA (Tanzania Airports Authority) has also departed to join the rescue team on the ground," the airline said in a statement.</div><div><br></div><div>"Precision Air sincerely understands the anxiety for confirmed information and will therefore do its best to issue more details," the company said.</div><div><br></div><div>Video footage broadcast on local media showed the plane largely submerged as rescuers, including fishermen, waded through water to bring people to safety.</div><div><br></div><div>Emergency workers attempted to lift the aircraft out of the water using ropes, assisted by cranes as local residents also sought to help in the effort.</div><div><br></div><div>Precision Air, which is partly owned by Kenya Airways, was founded in 1993 and operates domestic and regional flights as well as private charters to popular tourist destinations such as the Serengeti National Park and the Zanzibar archipelago.</div><div><br></div><div>The accident comes five years after 11 people died when a plane belonging to safari company Coastal Aviation crashed in northern Tanzania.</div><div><br></div><div>In March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi plunged six minutes after take-off into a field southeast of the Ethiopian capital, killing all 157 people on board.</div><div><br></div><div>In 2007, a Kenya Airways flight from the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan to Kenya's capital Nairobi crashed into a swamp after take-off, killing all 114 passengers.</div><div><br></div><div>In 2000, another Kenya Airways flight from Abidjan to Nairobi crashed into the Atlantic Ocean minutes after take-off, killing 169 people while 10 survived. - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>