Two boys drown in River Rwizi
People look on during the search for the bodies of the boys who drowned in River Rwizi in Mbarara on Monday. PHOTO BY COLLEB MUGUME
MBARARA.
Two boys on Sunday evening drowned in River Rwizi in Mbarara District.
Police identified the deceased as Hassan Mwanje, 17, who sat his O-Level exams at Western College in Mbarara last year and his counterpart Mustafa Byaruhanga aged 20.
A witnesses and a friend of the deceased, Andrew Tushabe, said in the afternoon hours Mwange telephoned Byaruhanga to travel to River Rwizi, tour the beach in Katete Ward, Nyamitanga Division and swim in the river.
They lived in the neighbouring Katojo Biharwe Sub-County about 10 kilometres from the river. They arrived at around 4pm and Mwange jumped into the water, he lost balance and Byaruhanga undressed and went in the water in an attempt to rescue him but drowned too.
“I don’t know how to swim so I bathed from the shoreline. My colleagues started swimming. When they drowned, I at first thought they were diving but I realised later that they drowned after taking long hours without appearing on top of water. Immediately I called police,” Tushabe said.
Police recovered the bodies on Monday around 11am and handed to their relatives.
Rwizi Region police spokesperson, Ms Polly Namaye, urged parents to keep their children away from the river during holidays.
