In yet another tragic marine accident, a boat that was carrying 120 fun lovers capsized on Saturday afternoon at Mpatta Sub-County in Mukono District on Lake Victoria.
By press time, at least 29 people had been confirmed dead while over 40 had been rescued alive by a joint Police and UPDF rescue mission.
Uganda police force marine unit rescues over 40 people alive on lake Victoria. Ten died. Rescue mission still on
— Uganda Police Force (@PoliceUg) November 24, 2018
One of the survivors whose name will not be disclosed told Matooke Republic that the boot was overloaded and it looked eminent from take off at KK beach that it would capsize.
“We raised the alarm to the organisers but it fell on deaf ears. They did not plan well. Some people paid early but found their places already occupied,” the survivor added.
The survivor also noted that the boat on which they were on could only accommodate about 55 people with a crew of about 10 people. This means that at the very maximum, they should have been 70 people.
The boat, however, set off from Motala Island with over 120 people aboard. Not only was it overloaded, but the boat was also old and in a bad mechanical shape.
“To be honest, it is not what I expected. If you look at the campaign poster, we were expecting a modern, luxurious boat. That is why we had even Princes like David Wasajja on board. But when I saw the boat, I could not believe it. But since I had already paid, I had no choice but board,” the survivor said.
Some of the people who had encountered the capsized boat on the waters of Lake Victoria also echoed similar concerns.
“I have been on the water twice this year. I saw that blue boat and thought it shouldn’t have been in use. It was in a sorry state. A disaster waiting to happen that has unfortunately claimed lives of our relatives and friends,” wrote Henry Ssali on his Facebook.
It has also emerged that the boat cruise had been scheduled for Friday but it was delayed by a day as the boat was being serviced.
Other people noted that it boat was not up to the standards of a cruise boat and called for the regulation of the marine transport sector.
“We should have a police department responsible for checking the standards of some of these water vessels that transport people the same way we have traffic police manning roads and checking whether vehicles and motors meet the required standards,” Agaba Ronald Bills, a businessman said.
Agaba added that the fact that the organisers set sail despite most of the passengers not having life jackets spews a lot of negligence on their part and should be held accountable.
The Police and the UPDF have so far located the wreckage of the boat and Mutima Island has been closed off to make the investigation more swift.