Three drown in Lake Victoria - police
Police retrieve the body of 10-year-old Akisham Wambadde, a pupil at Nakayonyi Primary School, from Lake Victoria at Masese Landing site on December 26, 2023. PHOTO/ RASHUL ADIDI
What you need to know:
- This becomes the first major boat accident on the lake this year. In June last year, at least six people were reported to have died in two separate boat accidents on Lake Victoria.
Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson, Mr Patrick Onyango has confirmed drowning of three people in Lake Victoria near Busabala landing site in Makindye Divison, Kampala District.
According to the brief statement posted on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Mr Onyango said the three drowned in the lake in the afternoon of February 8 due to a heavy storm.
"Three people have drowned today [Thursday ] afternoon after the boat they were travelling in capsized near Busabala landing site," Onyango's post read in part.
"They were transporting sand from Mukono Islands to Busabala," it added.
This publication could not independently verify the details of the victims neither the progress of the recovery process.
This becomes the first major boat accident on the lake this year. In June last year, at least six people were reported to have died in two separate boat accidents on Lake Victoria.
In 2023, another boat accident claimed at least three lives in Buvuma Island on December 10, when a boat carrying 24 workshop participants drowned between Kirewe and Namiti Islands, on Lake Victoria.
According to WHO statistics, Uganda registers “one of the world’s highest drowning death rates” of 502 in every 100,000 people residing in lakeside fishing communities.
