Fun-seeking siblings drown in Jinja after weekend downpour
Jinja District Police Commander, Vincent Irama. PHOTO BY DENIS EDEMA
What you need to know:
- As the boda boda attempted to cross the water with the three passengers, they got stuck and the water washed them away. The motorcycle was also washed away.
Two siblings drowned following a heavy downpour in Jinja District Sunday morning, Police have said.
The Jinja District Police Commander, Vincent Irama said that Patrick Tulabiraho, 25, and his 20-year-old sister, Blessing Natukwera, both residents of Mbarara District, had travelled to Jinja to have fun following the former’s successful completion of his Uganda Certificate of Education examinations.
The siblings who were returning from Queens Palace, a Jinja town-based nightclub, in the company of Kusaini Biiso, a friend, drowned after a boda boda they were riding on plunged into the floods that had submerged Masese Road.
A map of Uganda showing the distance between Mbarara District and Jinja District. COURTESY PHOTOS
The three were being ridden by Meddie Kalule who underestimated the water levels.
The accident
Mr Irama said as the boda boda attempted to cross the water with the three passengers, they got stuck and the water washed them away. The motorcycle was also washed away.
“The floods carried the two siblings up to the swamp next to the shores of Lake Victoria from where their bodies were recovered,” Mr Irama said.
He added that the cyclist and Mr Biiso survived drowning after clinging onto some objects as the water washed them.
By press time, the bodies were at Jinja regional referral hospital awaiting family members to pick them for burial.
