A Tanzanian fisherman identified as Jackson Majaliwa has been honored by the Tanzanian government. The fisherman was one of the first responders at the sight of Sunday’s plane crash which killed 19 people in Tanzania’s Lake Victoria.
According to PunchNg, he was also offered a job with the firefighting and rescue brigade by the Tanzanian president, Samia Suluhu.
Speaking with the BBC from his hospital bed in the Lakeside Town of Bukoba before the government announcement, Jackson said that he panicked when he saw the passenger plane plunging into the lake.
He and three other fishermen rushed to the scene and helped to open the rear door using a rowing oar. This helped the passengers who were seated towards the rear of the plane to be rescued.
After that, he dived into the water and he and one of the pilots communicated with signs.
The pilot told him to break the screen so that they could be rescued.
He emerged from the water and asked the airport security who had arrived if there were any tools he could use to break the screen.
After he was given an axe, a man with a megaphone stopped him, saying that they were already communicating with the pilots, and there was no water leakage in the cockpit.
When he dived in to give the pilots a goodbye wave, the pilots insisted that he should help them. Jackson then tied a rope to the emergency door and tried to pull it with a boat.
Unfortunately, the rope broke and hit him on the face, knocking him unconscious. The next thing was finding himself on the hospital bed.
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