31 dead in Ugandan boat accident, the balance sheet should increase

MUKONO, Uganda (AP) – Ugandan divers found 31 bodies and were hoping to find more on board a capsized vessel on Lake Victoria, making it one of the country's worst maritime disasters. prompted the president to call for stricter security rules.

The ship would be overcrowded with nearly 100 passengers, said Zurah Ganyana, a high-ranking police officer on the scene. At least 27 people were saved overnight, which is lower than previous reports, she said.

The boat, on a regular pleasure cruise and filled with young revelers, flipped over and sank around 7 pm. Saturday, she said.

Among the many tragic stories include one man who went out to help rescue people and drowned when he was dragged under water by a desperate passenger.

The MV Templa was in poor condition, immobilized for some time and did not have a valid operating license, the authorities said. The marine police tried to prevent the boat from boarding the cruise, but they were overwhelmed by the presence of two local princes among the passengers, they said.

"Such boats can not carry more than 50 people," said lawmaker Johnson Muyanja, who represents part of Mukono District, the scene of the accident. "Here we have no limits.Our problem is that we have no control.The number of people on board was too high compared to the size of the boat."

The narrow steel ship is reported to have undergone recent repairs, including repairing holes in the hull. It was back and forth, its operators have dodged inspectors who wanted to seize the boat, said Aggrey Bagiire, Minister of Transport.

"Out of this calamity, we can now take strong and punitive measures," he said. "Someone buys a yacht and puts it to sea, without having registered it, without taking it for inspection.There is impunity."

The boat had traveled about half of its journey when the captain noticed that the hull "was sucking water from the welds very quickly," said Henry Ategeka, chief marine inspector of the ship. Uganda, citing the findings of a preliminary inquiry.

The disaster shocked many people in this country of East Africa where a cruise on Lake Victoria is an increasingly popular weekend activity for young people in Kampala.

The boat capsized near the shore, near a seaside resort of Mukono. Witnesses said they heard people calling for help while they were trying to stay afloat and that others were trying to swim up to the beach. Many were women.

They shouted, "Help us! Help us! "And the boat was sinking very fast," said Sam Tukei, one of the local men who used fisherman's canoes to rescue people. "By the time the police arrived, we had saved many people."

A traffic jam ensued when the rescue boats arrived and at least one man from the rescue team was drowned by the people he had come to help.

"They took him with them, and in the morning, when they found his body, another dead man was still grabbing him," Maureen Nagawa said of his drowned cousin.

Early Sunday, a police helicopter hovered low over the point where the boat sank, while a team of divers searched for bodies in calm waters. As the number of deaths increased, crowds of spectators at the beach adjoined a peaceful village surrounded by agricultural fields.

The police transported the victims in tarpaulins and carried them in a waiting truck, sometimes making loud moans from the spectators. A young woman, seeing a victim she apparently recognized, fainted and was taken to the hospital.

One of the reasons many people died so close to the shore was probably "intoxication," said Asuman Mugenyi, national director of police operations. Quoting the survivors' stories, he stated that there were lots of lifejackets aboard the convicted ship that the passengers had neglected to carry.

The boat passengers, in a festive atmosphere, probably panicked when the boat started sinking, he said.

Other officials said the captain's emergency orders may have been drowned out by loud music.

According to police officer Ganyana, the couple who owned and operated the boat were among the victims.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said on Twitter that he had ordered electronic registration and monitoring of all boats so that we can find out who is where on the lake and why. "

"Obviously, the operators of this boat will be charged with criminal negligence and manslaughter, if they are not already punished for their mistake by dying in the accident," he said. he declares. "Let everyone take warning of this tragedy."

Boat accidents are becoming more common on the main lakes of East Africa, including Lake Victoria, surrounded by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

More than 200 people were killed in a Tanzanian ferry disaster in September, officials said was overcrowded.

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