Marine police retrieve three bodies from Lake Victoria boat accident

Buikwe, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Ssezibwa regional marine police have together with residents of Buvuma and Kiyindi landing site in Buikwe district, recovered the bodies of three of the six people who drowned in Lake Victoria when their boat capsized over the weekend.

The deceased have been identified as Geoffrey Kumutya, 35, a resident of Kiyindi, Godfrey Maveya, a gospel preacher and Fred Walwasi, a boat porter. The bodies of Vicent Lumu, also a gospel preacher, Deo Mutebi, a porter on the boat and the operator Benon Twijukye commonly known by locals as Kanyankore are still missing.

The victims left Kiyindi landing site in Buikwe district around 6pm on Sunday while heading to Bwema sub-county on a passenger boat that was loaded with stone aggregates for making concrete.

Godfrey Luiga, the Ssezibwa Marine Police Commander says that the bodies were recovered from Busagazi in Bwema sub county in Buvuma district. Luiga notes that the search is still on to find the bodies of the other missing persons and the boat.

Amir Kiggundu, the Kiyindi town council councillor who is also part of the search team, says that they are still trying their best to locate the boat.

The bodies are at Kiyindi landing site waiting for transportation to the hospital for postmortem. Monday Kafulukwa, a boat operator says that they have lost the morale of transporting passengers since they received the tragic news of the death of their colleagues.

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