Tragedy as fishermen drown in Lake Naivasha

Two fishermen drowned in Lake Naivasha on Monday night after their boat capsized while on a fishing mission.

Divers spent the better part of Tuesday searching for the body of one of the victims after managing to retrieve the first body in the morning.

According to Naivasha Boat Owners Association chairman David Kilo, strong winds that were blowing at the time were to blame for the incident.

The two victims were licensed fishermen.
“The fisherman had gone to cast their nets near the Crescent Island when tragedy struck,” he explained.

He said the duo managed to reach out to their colleagues who responded almost immediately but the strong winds hampered the rescue mission.

“They managed to send out a distress call but they could not figure out the exact location the boat had capsized, further derailing the rescue efforts,” added Mr Kilo.

He said both were wearing life saving jackets, blaming their deaths on strong winds that prevented prompt rescue efforts.

Since 2015, capsizing incidents have been on the rise with five people having drowned that year while on a fishing expedition at night.

In August, the same year, three fishermen died after their boat capsized while on a fishing mission. The three were in group of six others, including two cousins who had gone to the fresh water Lake to fish.

Barely two weeks later, two fishermen died following a similar tragedy. The two, in group of four others, were on fishing mission at around 7pm, when the tragedy struck.

In June last year, a fisherman died in the lake with incident being linked to bad weather.