Local tourist drowns in Lake Albert during Sunday tour

Buliisa, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A 30 year old man has drowned in the waters of Lake Albert in Buliisa district. The deceased has been identified as Gerald Twinamatsiko, an employee of Devise Solution Engineering Company Limited based in Kasenyi village, Ngwedu sub-county in Buliisa.

The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon at around 3:30 pm. Reports indicate that Twinamatsiko and his colleagues were on a tour in Butiaba town council, and had driven a vehicle with registration number UBL 587P Drone to Butiaba landing site. While there, Twinamatsiko went for a swim in Lake Albert and drowned. Musa Asaba, the Butiaba Town Council LCIII Chairperson, told Uganda Radio Network in an interview on Monday morning that area residents were alerted when Twinamatsiko’s friends failed to locate him while he was in the lake.

Despite their efforts to save him, they were unable to do so, and they immediately alerted the marine police who rushed to the scene. Julius Hakiza, the Albertine region police spokesperson, stated that marine police and local fishermen were able to retrieve Twinamatsiko’s body from the lake at around 5pm on Sunday. The body was taken to Buliisa General Hospital for postmortem examination. This tragedy follows a similar incident in January 2023, when a 16-year-old fisherman named Kumakech Obama drowned in Lake Albert in the Hoima district.

Obama had been fishing with Muliyo Omirambe when strong winds hit their boat, causing it to capsize. Although Omirambe managed to swim to shore, Obama was not as fortunate, and he drowned. In December 2022, another fisherman named Emmanuel Omirambe, aged 35, drowned in Lake Albert after his fishing boat was attacked by a hippopotamus. He was from the Kyehoro landing site in Kabwoya sub-county in Kikuube district.

In December 2021, a fisherman identified only as Moses drowned in Lake Albert in Hoima district after sliding off his boat. He had been working at the Hoima landing site in Tonya parish, Buseruka sub-county. Finally, on November 2, 2021, another fisherman named Owonda drowned in Lake Albert after panicking upon seeing personnel from the Fisheries Protection Unit -FPU.

Owonda had been fishing illegally with two others at the Kijangi landing site in Tonya parish, Buseruka sub-county when the FPU team went after them. Owonda jumped into the lake upon seeing the officers and unfortunately drowned.

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