Three fishermen drown in Lake Victoria

Three fishermen from Migori County drowned in Lake Victoria on Saturday night after their vessel overturned as they went on a fishing expedition.

The trio were fishing sardines at night when strong waves hit their vessel and overturned it plunging them into the raging waters.

Their colleagues realized a few hours later that their counterparts had drowned in the Africa’s fresh water lake, according to the Migori County police commander Mr David Kirui.

He said all the deceased were from Oodi beach in Muhuru.

Their bodies were discovered on Sunday morning near the disputed Migingo Island.

“We have positively identified their bodies to be those of the drowned fishermen,” said Mr John Obunge, the Migingo beach management unit chairman.

The bodies were discovered by other fishermen in the lake, he said.

Police later took the bodies to a local mortuary.

Tragedies have been occurring in Lake Victoria, partly due to lack, or ignorance on safety by most fishermen.

Many of them rarely put on safety jackets during fishing expeditions and vessel leakages are rarely treated as a priority.

“We want all the fishing and passenger boats to have safety jackets to avert loss of lives…they should also avoid overloading their vessels,” advised Mr Kirui.

Migori Governor Okoth Obado recently donated three modern motorboats to the fisheries department to help in security surveillance and rescue efforts in the lake.

“But the department lacks professional divers who can save lives in the mass water body,” says Mr Obunge.