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Before Alex Niyonzima is plunged into the waters of the lake, before other party goers fall on him, plunging him to the bottom of the water, before drowning hands grab his body. there was a moment of calm.
Niyonzima was hung from a deck table as the boat stopped half-way through Saturday night in Lake Victoria, Uganda.
"I was holding the table but the floor was where the wall had been," he said.
All around him, people were screaming, "standing on chairs, railings, each other". Then the boat faltered again. "I was at the bottom when the boat turned around, so everyone at the top fell on me," said the 44-year-old big man.
Beneath the waves, Niyonzima thought that he would die.
"Someone grabbed my neck, I pushed them back.Another person grabbed my shoulder and I pushed them in. I could feel from his hands that he was a man," he said. declared. "A girl caught my lifejacket and tore it."
"I panicked because people were going to strangle me there."
Niyonzima sank to the surface and swam for about 200 meters to the shore. "When I felt the sand beneath my feet, I realized that I had saved my life," he said. "I was lucky."
At least 32 of his fellow pbadengers died that evening, but with only 27 survivors and about 100 people on board, the toll should be pbaded when rescuers recover the ship.
According to Niyonzima, most of the victims were wealthy Ugandan youth who attended an annual raging feast every year by Freeman Kiyimba.
At dusk, the DJ shook the music as the drinks streamed and the party animals danced.
"It was a party atmosphere," Niyonzima said. "Many free drinks: whiskeys, Baileys, Amarula and all you can think of."
There were, however, signs of the danger ahead.
Many revelers ignored the warning of a police officer wearing lifejackets: people wanted to flaunt their clothes and not hide them with unflattering buoyancy aids.
Then, when the boat left the shore – the MV K-Palm, a bright blue reconverted fishing boat with a distinct shark-tooth decal on the bow – the engine screamed loudly.
It was a "red flag," Niyonzima said in hindsight.
"I had been aboard this boat many times, so I did not think it was a big problem, I knew that once the boat was moving, we would do our cruise as we did." "Habit," he said.
A short distance from the coast, the engines broke down for the first time, but few pbadengers paid much attention to dance, conversation, laughter and drink.
The DJ called to listen to the music, warning people not to spill the heavily loaded boat.
Restarted, the boat crossed a wide bay at the northern end of Africa's largest lake. Then he stuck again.
Meanwhile, leisurely revelers have posted exuberant videos on social media.
Among them were singer Irene Namubiru and Prince David Wasajja, brother of the king of Buganda, the most important traditional kingdom of Uganda. Both survived.
As the sun set, the boat shivered for the third time.
It was then that Niyonzima noticed the water. "At the back, the boat was leaking water and they did not have a pump, so they used a half-cut jerrican (to bail out) that was useless against the water. of the lake, "he said.
As the boat tilted, the DJ seemed to understand the danger. He urgently called people to move to help keep the boat steady.
The owner of the ship, Templar Bisbade, who, unusually, had pbaded the boat near the engine rather than playing at the host as he usually did, also shouted to people to help him maintain the boat level.
His supplications fell into drunk ears. "Because they drank a lot, people did not listen," Niyonzima said.
Beside him, a group of women joked that "they were on the Titanic" when a portion of the hull suddenly rose out of the lake's waters.
Drinks slid off tables, pbadengers lost their feet, stacked speakers fell into the lake, and Niyonzima, terrified, was caught on a table as the boat rolled further.
"We stayed like this for about 20 seconds." Then, he says, "the boat has completely rolled over".
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