Museveni says that a capsized cruise ship has been overloaded

UgandaThe company's chairman, Yoweri Museveni, said Sunday that a cruise ship that capsized on Lake Victoria the previous day, killing at least 29 people, was carrying more than double its capacity of 50 people.

More than 200 people died in September when an overcrowded ferry sank on the Tanzanian side of the lake.

On Sunday, a police helicopter flew over the spot where the boat fell on Saturday night into the waters of Mukono District, near Kampala, while a crowd of spectators, some in tears, were standing on the shore where the bodies piled up.

"The operators of this boat will be charged with criminal negligence and manslaughter, if they have not already been punished for their mistake in dying in the accident," Museveni wrote on Twitter.

There was a party aboard the boat, with loud music, at the time of the accident, said Museveni.

"They may not have heard the captain's emergency orders, which have not been found yet," he said.

Patrick Onyango, deputy police spokesman, said the ship had experienced difficult conditions at the time of the accident.

"The boat was overloaded and secondly, it was bad," Onyango told Reuters.

"Our rescue team is still on the ground trying to save everyone we can find," he said.

Among the people rescued on Saturday was Prince Daudi Kintu Wasajja, brother of Ronald Mutebi, King of BUganda Kingdom, Ugandais the most important, said the police.

The East African nation has several kingdoms whose kings exert considerable social influence but minimal political influence.

Read: The number of victims of a cruise ship accident in Uganda goes up to 29

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