Hope of finding drowned Chinese national fades

A Chinese engineer shows some of the MPs on the Committee for Natural Resources who visited the power dam construction site on Monday. There are several Chinese nationals working on the project. Photo by Julius Ocungi

What you need to know:

  • The Albertine Region Police Spokesman Julius Hakiza says that the bodies of John Mugisa and John Ssemujju, all fishermen at Nyasonga landing site in Ndaiga Sub County were found floating on the waters on Monday evening.
  • There are over 1,000 Chinese nationals and close to 5,000 Africans working on the project.

The hope of finding the body of a Chinese national who drowned near the Karuma Dam construction site in Kiryandongo District is fading as the search goes through the fifth day.
The 40-year-old Chinese only identified as Fang, disappeared in the fast running waters of the River Nile after midnight on Friday October 14.
It's reported that a 28-seater Coaster registration number UAN 859H which he was reversing slewed into the fast running water near the outfall site at the dam.
The vehicle was retrieved from under 25 meters deep in the water on Sunday afternoon.

Fang was a foreman at Sinohydro Corporation, a Chinese company contracted to construct the 600 Megawatt power dam.
Julius Hakiza, the Albertine Region Police Spokesperson said the marine unit of the police has resumed the search, upstream and downstream, but is yet to come across any possible clue.
According to Mr Emmanuel Nyalo, the Human resource manager for Sinohydro Corporation, efforts by the local divers have also yielded nothing yet.
Fang is the second person to drown in the River Nile but also the third Chinese to have died at the site. One was killed by a hippopotamus in September last year while another committed suicide at the end of July 2016.

There are over 1,000 Chinese nationals and close to 5,000 Africans working on the project.
In a related development, the bodies of the two fishermen who drowned on Lake Albert in Kagadi District at the weekend have been retrieved from the waters.
Mr Hakiza said the bodies of John Mugisa and John Ssemujju, all fishermen at Nyasonga landing site in Ndaiga Sub County were found floating on the waters on Monday evening.