The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has said government has ordered electronic tracking of all boats on Lake Victoria for safety and security reasons. He said this a day after a Ugandan boat cruise accident, where up to 60 people are feared dead.
Earlier Sunday, the First Deputy Prime Minister Gen. Moses Ali visited the bereaved at the city’s mortuary. (see related message, bottom)
FULL STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT MUSEVENI
On behalf of all Ugandans, I send condolences to the families of the people who died in the accident on Lake Victoria last evening. According to preliminary information from the security services, this, apparently, was a private, unregistered, unlicensed and maybe uninsured boat.
The boat was owned by somebody called Templa Bissase or Bissaso and his wife, both of whom, apparently, perished in the accident. They were coming from a private beach and headed to another private beach in Mukono area.
It seems the boat was overloaded because whereas it had capacity for 50 people only, it had about 120 passengers on board, who also seemed to be partying with a lot of music. They might not have heard the emergency commands of the captain, who is still unaccounted for.
When the Police and the UPDF got information from the fishermen, they rushed in and rescued 26 people. By today morning, 29 dead bodies had been recovered. The search effort is still ongoing.
This is why, apart from the anti-bad fishing campaign which the UPDF has been carrying out for some months now on the lakes, the government has also ordered the electronic registration and monitoring of all the boats so that we can know who is where on the lake and why.
The five times I crossed in small boats or canoes lakes Victoria and Tanganyika, I found them very dangerous to cross when you are not fully prepared; no overloading, standby engines, life jackets, reliable navigation etc etc.
Let everybody take the warning from this tragedy.
Obviously, the operators of this boat will be charged with criminal negligence and manslaughter, if they have not already been punished for their mistake by dying in the accident. May the souls of all those departed in this tragedy rest in peace.
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Deep condolences to the families who lost their loved ones in the tragic #LakeVictoriaBoatAccident. Such a terrible and sad loss. Investigations into this disaster have commenced. May the Almighty God comfort you & rest the souls of the departed in eternal peace pic.twitter.com/iYQojzYkut
— Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda (@RuhakanaR) November 25, 2018
Over 60 feared dead in Lake Victoria disaster #LakeVictoriaBoatAccident #Uganda https://t.co/vGiwVnzzre pic.twitter.com/dbMJ5zSTy2
— The Independent (@UGIndependent) November 25, 2018
