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Ugandans jump to their deaths abroad
Agasha Asiina and Monica Karungi. PHOTO/COMBO
What you need to know:
- There are allegations that Ugandans are trafficked to foreign countries after being promised to get jobs, but end up forced into slavery and prostitution.
Two Ugandan women in Bengaluru, India, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, have died after allegedly jumping from buildings last week.
Agasha Asiina, a final year student pursuing Bachelor of Business Administration in Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management, allegedly jumped off the sixth floor of her hostel in Bengaluru last Wednesday while Monica Karungi, 24, was captured in a video jumping off the Al-Fahad building in Dubai.
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According to Hindustan Times, Asiina is said to have died as she was being taken to hospital for treatment.
Asiina’s death led to a protest by students that accused the university management of failing to provide safety barriers around the windows.
“Students went berserk at the loss and vandalised the college and hostel premises, hurling stones at windows and damaging the panes, after which they had to be controlled by the police by way of lethal charge,” according to a report from Hindustan Times.
Indian media reports have several narratives of how Asiina’s life ended. Some reports point to an accident, others claim she was pushed off the building while others say she committed suicide.
It is alleged that Asiina, who lived on the Seventh floor, had gone to wash her clothes when she saw a bed sheet near the window and went to pick it. How she ended up falling from the window is still under investigation.
Hindustan Times said the police officers would enter an offence of negligence against the university management if the deceased’s parents lodge a complaint. But if no one comes up with the complaint, they would consider it a natural death, according to the media report.
Efforts to get a comment from Ambassador Muhammad Kezaala, Uganda’s High Commissioner in India, were futile as his known mobile phones were switched off by press time.
In a related incident in Dubai, Karungi was captured in a video jumping off the building.
Details of the incident are still scanty.
Both Ugandan officials in Dubai and in Kampala City are yet to issue statements about the incident.
Cases of Ugandans dying in mysterious manner in the Middle East and Asia are on the increase.
There are allegations that Ugandans are trafficked to foreign countries after being promised to get jobs, but end up forced into slavery and prostitution.
