Happening Now: Labour Day celebrations at Uhuru Gardens
50 missing as ferry capsizes
Survivors are helped out of the water at Kasenyi landing on the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda. Fifty people are missing after a boat capsized in the lake on Wednesday morning. The Ugandan police, military and relief workers were are searching for survivors.
More than 50 people are feared to have drowned in Lake Victoria when a passenger boat capsized on Wednesday.
The boat was sailing from Jjaana islands in Kalangala District to Kasenyi Landing Site in Wakiso District with 60 people, most of them traders with their merchandise.
Rescued four people
At the time of going to press, the Marine Police, Uganda People’s Defence Forces and Red Cross had rescued only four people.
David Mugole, Samalie Teru, Gideon Kazungi and another person only identified as Akello was saved by pieces of wood and sacks of fish she held on to after the incident.
Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesman Ibin Ssenkumbi said the accident happened at 5.30am. “We have rescued four people and the search for 58 others is still going on,” Mr Ssenkumbi said on Wednesday.
Police suspect the cause of the accident to be overloading. Beach Management Unit officials, however, put the number of occupants in the boat at 37.
Jjaana Island Local Council chairman Nelson Musisi said the boat was overloaded with timber and sacks of fish. “The survivors said strong waves hit the vessel, shattering it into pieces,” he said.
This is the third most serious ferry tragedy in East Africa. In May 1996, the Bukoba ferry sank on its way to Mwanza in Tanzania, killing around 800 people.
On April 27, 1994, the MV Mtongwe ferry sank while crossing from Mtongwe to Mombasa Island killing 272 people.
