South Africa impound Tanzania plane

South African authorities have seized a plane from Tanzania’s national carrier, the Tanzanian government said.

The Airbus 220-300 was due to fly from Johannesburg, South Africa, on Friday to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

It was not immediately clear why the action was taken, and South African authorities have not commented.

But a retired farmer has said the aircraft was impounded because Tanzania’s government had not paid him $33m (£28.8m) it owes in compensation.

Lawyer Roger Wakefield told the BBC the money was awarded after Tanzania’s government seized lands belonging to the South African farmer.

A Tanzanian government spokesperson told the BBC that the country’s lawyers had arrived in South Africa to investigate.

In a statement on Friday, Air Tanzania said that it expected to make flight schedule adjustments “due to unforeseeable circumstances”, but did not give any further details.

The carrier’s managing director Ladislaus Matindi told Reuters arrangements had been made for passengers to resume their journey on another flight.

Source: BBC