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Ochori Burana said the ferry was overcrowded and hundreds of people were heading to a popular open-air market when it capsized Thursday on Lake Victoria.
Moments before the tragedy, the ferry made a sharp turn and rolled over on one side, throwing people and goods into icy waters, Burana told Tanzania Broadcasting Corp.
He jumped just before falling and grabbed a car tire that was swaying in the water. He used it to stay afloat for about fifteen minutes until the fishermen saved it, he said.
Burana said he lost six family members who were traveling with him.
While the nation was crying, parents dug mass graves while colorful coffins lined the banks. Family members waited for news of their loved ones, some crying as the teams removed bodies from the water.
Most of the remains have been identified and will be buried in the same place, said Minister of Transport Isack Kamwele at CNN.
"Until this morning, we were able to withdraw 223 bodies from the sea," he said Sunday. "The exercise continues, and for the moment we are trying to repair the aircraft to get the ferry off the ground." Later on Sunday, he said the number had risen to 224.
The captain of Ferry is arrested
The captain of the overloaded ferry has been arrested and all his operators will be arrested for questioning, said President John Magufuli.
The total number of people killed may never be known because it is unknown how many people were aboard the overcrowded ferry. Officials said the ship had a capacity of 100 people but instead carried about 400 people.
The ferry was traveling from Bugolora to Ukara Island when it capsized about 650 feet from its destination.
Engineer saved after 48 hours
Rescuers struggled to remove the bodies from the lake. As the ferry overturned with baggage and passengers, the crews had to remove their cargo to get to the bodies, said the Minister of Transport.
A ferry engineer was among the people rescued on Saturday, reported Tanzania Broadcasting. He was among the eight engineers aboard the ferry when he capsized and he had locked himself in a machine room since Thursday.
"He … said that he had problems"
Fisherman Maulid Musa said he received a phone call from a friend on the ferry a few moments before capsizing.
"He called me and told me that he had problems," Musa told The Citizen newspaper. "The boat in which he was traveling was about to sink in. I tried to ask him what was going on, he said that all the passengers on board had moved to one side of the boat. the phone has tripped. "
Musa said that he tried to rush to the scene to help, but there were no boats there. He discovered Friday that his friend was dead.
The disaster highlights the problem of the dangerous overpopulation of aging ferries in the region. Ferries in Tanzania are often overcrowded due to the lack of specific passenger manifolds complicating the rescue operations.
Farai Sevenzo from CNN contributed to this report.
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