Police investigating death of passenger on MV Kyoga

Nakasongola, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Police in Nakasongola is investigating the mysterious death of a passenger who lost his life aboard MV Kyoga, which was heading to Amolatar district. The deceased has been identified as Ambrose Ongom, a resident of Owinyocwa village at Namasale landing site in Amolatar district.

It is alleged that on Tuesday evening, Ongom fell off the ferry which was sailing from Zengebe landing site to Namasale landing site, and drowned in Lake Kyoga.

Isah Ssemwogerere, the Savannah region police spokesperson says that the police has since retrieved the body from Lake Kyoga and transferred it to Nakasongola health centre IV for postmortem. Ssemwogerere adds that police is investigating the incident to establish whether he deliberately jumped off the ferry or an accident.

An operator at the ferry who declined to be named said that the deceased boarded the ferry like any other passenger but jumped into the lake in what is believed to have been a suicide. He said that the ferry resumed operations after the tragic incident.

This is the first case to be recorded on MV Kyoga. However, several fishermen have drowned on local boats before.  On Saturday, Fred Ssonko, a fisherman aged 61 drowned at Munami landing site on Lake Kyoga moments after he and his colleague identified as Robert Kamya went fishing on Saturday with a canoe locally known as Tukutuku. The canoe was hit by strong winds and capsized.

While Kamya managed to swim to the shores, Ssonko drowned. At least 10 fishermen drowned in Lake Kyoga in 2020.

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