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Rubanda, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Two people have drowned in Lake Bunyonyi, Rubanda district after the canoe they were travelling in capsized.
The dead include Maureen Ninsiima 15, a student at Cream land High School Kabale and Evidence Kakuru, 15.
The incident occurred on Wednesday evening in Karambo village. According to Robert Ndyomugabe, one of the survivors, they were sailing near Karambo landing site when the canoe lost control and capsized. He says that the boat could have capsized as a result of the strong waves.
According to Ndyomugabe, as the canoe capsized him and another survivor Milvil Akampurira swarm back to the lakeside. He says that the girls died since they didn’t know how to swim.
Elly Maate, police spokesperson for Kigezi region says that investigations into the matter are on-going. Maate says that Kakuru’s body was last night retrieved by locals after it was seen floating on top of the lake.
He also says that despite the presence of bylaws restricting sailors from travelling on the lake without lake jackets, communities neighboring the lake are flouting the laws.
In June 2018, five people drowned in Karambo cell, Muko Sub County Rubanda district while crossing the lake using a canoe. In 2016, five members of the same family drowned in Lake Bunyonyi while travelling in a canoe from a party in Mushebeya, Kamugangunzi Sub County, to their home in Kabirago Ndarura Village, Rubaya Sub County, Kabale district.
In 2015, President Yoweri Museveni pledged to provide a ferry, since the only available means of transport is by boat to the districts of Kabale and Rubanda. However, up to date, the pledge has never been fulfilled.
Last week officials from the Uganda National Roads Authority- UNRA led by the Director Roads Infrastructure Protection Department Lauben Tumwesigye Byaruhanga and Transport Economist Davis Muhangi conducted feasibility studies on the routes and docking sites.
They said that the first phase of ferry construction will start in August this year and be completed in December 2021.
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