YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. Rescue teams are expected to resume their search for hundreds of missing ferry passengers Friday, after a dangerously overcrowded boat capsized on Lake Victoria in Tanzania's north, CNN reported.

Initial reports said that at least 44 people died in the incident, but the number grew to 79, according to AFP.

The passenger ferry sank between two islands in Lake Victoria on Thursday.

Only 37 people were rescued from the water before poor visibility halted operations.

Regional Commissioner John Mongella told local Tanzania television channel ITV that emergency teams would continue their search Friday morning.

The exact number of passengers on board the boat is unknown, but it may have been carrying 400 to 500 passengers, according to local media reports. Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa, which straddles the borders of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan