The death toll after a ferry capsized in Lake Victoria, Tanzania has risen to 161, state-run TV station TBC said on Saturday citing John Mongella, commissioner for Mwanza region where the disaster occurred.

Investigators on boat work on the capsized ferry MV Nyerere in Lake Victoria, Tanzania, on September 21, 2018. (Photo: VCG)

The rescue operations are still underway as more bodies are expected to be discovered.  

The ferry with a capacity for 101 passengers and 25 tons of cargo capsized at around 1 p.m. local time on Thursday, close to the pier on Ukara Island.

Witnesses said that the ferry sank when passengers rushed to one side to disembark as it approached the dock. 

More than 200 people had boarded the ferry at Bugolora, a town on the larger Ukerewe Island, where it was market day, according to witnesses. 

Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Friday ordered the arrest of the ferry management.   

In a speech aired on TBC 1 public television, Magufuli said: "It appears clear that the ferry was overloaded." 

The president also declared four days of national mourning and said the government would cover the funeral expenses of the victims. 

Preliminary investigations showed that the state-owned ferry was overloaded and was being manned by someone who was not the authorized captain of the vessel. 

A full investigation into the accident has been directed by President Magufuli.

The country's opposition accused the government of "negligence" and pointed to overloading as "another failure of the government" and criticized "inadequate relief efforts as well as delays" in the rescue operation. 

The last major ferry accident on Lake Victoria occurred in 1996 in the same region, killing at least 500 people.