Rescuers in boats are seen around the tail fin of a crashed Precision Air passenger aircraft on the shores of Lake Victoria in Bukoba, in western Tanzania Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022. Photo: VCG

Three people have died in a plane crash in Tanzania in which Precision Air's aircraft crash-landed into Lake Victoria as it attempted to land at Bukoba Airport, the state-owned Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation wrote on Twitter.

The plane plunged into Lake Victoria due to bad weather as it approached the ­northwestern city of Bukoba, police said.

"There was an accident involving a Precision Air plane which... crashed into water about 100 meters from the airport," regional police commander William Mwampaghale told reporters at Bukoba Airport.

Regional commissioner Albert Chalamila said 43 people, including 39 passengers, two pilots and two cabin crew, were aboard flight PW 494 from financial capital Dar es Salaam to the lakeside city in Kagera region.

"As we speak, we have managed to rescue 26 people who were taken to our referral hospital," Chalamila said.

"The rescue operation is still ongoing and we are communicating with the pilots," he said, adding that the aircraft was an ATR-42, manufactured by ­Toulouse-based Franco-Italian firm ATR.

Precision Air, a publicly listed company which is Tanzania's largest private airline, said it had dispatched rescuers to the scene.

"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.

Video footage broadcast on local ­media showed the plane largely submerged as rescuers, including fishermen, waded through water to bring people to safety.

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.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan expressed her condolences to those affected by the accident.

"Let's continue to be calm while the rescue operation continues as we pray to God to help us," the president said on Twitter.

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.

The accident came five years after 11 people died when a plane belonging to safari company Coastal Aviation crashed in northern Tanzania.

In March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi plunged six minutes after takeoff into a field southeast of the Ethiopian capital, killing all 157 people onboard.

In 2007, a Kenya Airways flight from the Cote d'Ivoire city of Abidjan to Kenya's capital Nairobi crashed into a swamp after takeoff, killing all 114 passengers.

In 2000, another Kenya Airways flight from Abidjan to Nairobi crashed into the Atlantic Ocean minutes after takeoff, killing 169 people while 10 survived.