HOPES faded yesterday for 65 miners feared drowned in Tanzania after floods swept through a remote gemstone mine near Mount Kilimanjaro.

Manyara Regional Commissioner Henry Shekifu said six bodies had been recovered and that 59 workers were missing after the disaster in the northern town of Mererani. Thirty-five people had been rescued.

“That’s the latest information we have this morning,” Shekifu said. He said eight pits were inundated early Saturday, drowning miners.

He held an emergency meeting with the mine owners, local members of parliament and the area’s police commander.

Local media said President Jakaya Kikwete had expressed his condolences to the victims and their families and had dispatched three Cabinet ministers to the scene.

Volunteers had rushed to the area Saturday and the government said it was bringing equipment to drain the water as fast as possible. But engineers battled to restore power after the flash floods brought down electricity poles.

Much of East Africa has been hammered by torrential seasonal rains last week, swamping city slums, damaging crops and cutting off remote villages. Local media in neighboring Kenya said six people had died in floods there, including two children.

A schoolboy also reportedly drowned in Kampala, Uganda.(SD-Agencies)