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MUKONO, Uganda – At least 30 people have died in Uganda after a party boat carrying more than 90 people capsized in Lake Victoria, near the capital, Kampala, officials said Sunday.
The boat overturned and sank around 19 hours. Saturday, said a senior police officer, Zurah Ganyana. She said that 27 people were saved overnight. According to officials, the death toll is expected to increase.
Officials said the boat was taking passengers for a pleasure cruise, a popular weekend activity for young people in Kampala, but it capsized near the shore.
Officer Ganyana stated that the boat was in poor condition and has been immobilized for some time. She said that there was no valid license to operate.
Early Sunday morning, a police helicopter hovered low over the point where the boat sank, while a team of divers searched the bodies under calm waters. A crowd of spectators stood on a beach and watched the rescue and recovery efforts.
The police transported victims' bodies in tarpaulins with the help of a truck, sometimes provoking angry cries from the spectators. A young woman, seeing a victim she apparently recognized, collapsed and was taken to the hospital.
The couple who owned the boat would be among the victims, according to officer Ganyana.
Witnesses present Saturday night said they heard people calling for help while they were trying to stay afloat and saw others try to swim up to the beach. Many were women.
"They shouted," Help us! Help us! 'And the boat sank very fast,' said Sam Tukei, one of the local men who used fishermen's canoes to save people. "By the time the police arrived, we had saved a lot of people."
One of the reasons that many people died so close to the shore was probably due to "intoxication," said Asuman Mugenyi, national director of police operations. Quoting survivor stories, he stated that there were many lifejackets aboard the convicted ship that the passengers were not carrying.
The boat's passengers most likely panicked when the boat started sinking, he said.
Boat accidents are becoming more common on the main lakes of East Africa, including Lake Victoria, surrounded by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
More than 200 people were killed in September after the capsizing of a dangerously overpopulated Tanzanian ferry, officials said.
