Four charged with negligence over ferry sinking that killed 240

Tanzanian authorities have charged four men with negligence over a ferry sinking that led to the deaths of more than 240 people last Saturday.

More than 800 people survived by clinging on to pieces of wood or crowding on to lifeboats. The ferry owner, Yusuf Suleiman Jussa, 47, the first officer Abdallah Mohamed Ali, 30, and Silima Nyange Silima, 27, a Zanzibar Ports Authority employee, were charged with contravening the Maritime Act by allowing the heavily overloaded MV Spice Islander to leave port. Captain Said Abdullah Kinyanyite, who remains missing, was charged in absentia. The ferry sank at night in an area of deep seas and strong currents.