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Ill-fated boat was unregistered, unlicensed- Museveni
What you need to know:
- Mr Museveni says the private boat owned by one Templa Bissase and his wife was seemingly overloaded because whereas it had capacity for 50 people only, it had about 120 passengers on board.
- Bissase and his wife are among 31 people whose bodies have so far been retrieved from the water.
The ill-fated boat which on Saturday sank with more than 100 revellers on board was unregistered, unlicensed and maybe uninsured, according to President Museveni.
Mr Museveni said Sunday that the private boat owned by one Templa Bissase and his wife was seemingly overloaded because whereas it had capacity for 50 people only, it had about 120 passengers on board.
Bissase and his wife are among 31 people whose bodies have so far been retrieved from the water.
A man sits at the rescue site of capsized cruise boat on lake Victoria at Mutima village, about 50km south of capital Kampala. AFP PHOTO
The President in a statement he issued Sunday said:"Apart from the anti-bad fishing campaign which the UPDF has been carrying out for some months now on the lakes, the government has also ordered the electronic registration and monitoring of all the boats so that we can know who is where on the lake and why.”
According to police, the main cause of the accident was overloading yet the boat was in a poor mechanical shape.
"The recovered bodies have been taken to city mortuary in Mulago where they will be picked. How ever the search is still on for other bodies. police chopper has recovered one dead body, total of the dead is now 31," police tweeted.
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A woman sheds tears at the rescue site of capsized cruise boat on lake Victoria at Mutima village, about 50km south of capital Kampala. AFP PHOTO
Below is the President’s Full statement
MY STATEMENT ON THE LAKE VICTORIA TRAGEDY
On behalf of all Ugandans, I send condolences to the families of the people who died in the accident on Lake Victoria last evening.
According to preliminary information from the security services, this, apparently, was a private, unregistered, unlicensed and maybe uninsured boat.
The boat was owned by somebody called Templa Bissase or Bissaso and his wife, both of whom, apparently, perished in the accident. They were coming from a private beach and headed to another private beach in Mukono area.
It seems the boat was overloaded because whereas it had capacity for 50 people only, it had about 120 passengers on board.
The passengers also seemed to be partying with a lot of music. They might not have heard the emergency commands of the captain, who is still unaccounted for.
When the Police and the UPDF got information from the fishermen, they rushed in and rescued 26 people. By today morning, 29 dead bodies had been recovered.
This is why, apart from the anti-bad fishing campaign which the UPDF has been carrying out for some months now on the lakes, the government has also ordered the electronic registration and monitoring of all the boats so that we can know who is where on the lake and why.
The five times I crossed in small boats or canoes some of the lakes of East Africa (thrice Lake Victoria and two times Lake Tanganyika), I found them very dangerous to cross when you are not fully prepared; no overloading, standby engines, life jackets, reliable navigation etc etc.
Let everybody take the warning from this tragedy.
Obviously, the operators of this boat will be charged with criminal negligence and manslaughter, if they have not already been punished for their mistake by dying in the accident.
May the souls of all those departed rest in peace.
YOWERI K. MUSEVENI
PRESIDENT
Recovered shoes of passengers are seen at the rescue site of capsized cruise boat on lake Victoria at Mutima village, about 50km south of capital Kampala. AFP PHOTO
