The number of people who drowned following a boat accident on Monday on a lake in north-western Uganda has risen to 42 after police retrieved 23 more bodies from the lake’s shorelines on Tuesday evening, a senior police marine officer said.
The boat overloaded with more than 80 people as well as merchandise capsized early on Monday morning after being hit by strong waves on Lake Albert, which borders the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thirty-seven people survived, police officials said.
By Tuesday evening, police said 19 bodies had been retrieved from the lake after the boat capsized just south of a small landing site of Panyimur, about 280km north-west of Kampala.
Marine accidents on Ugandan lakes which claim dozens of lives every year are blamed on overloading and the lack of effective policing of traffic. — Sapa-DPA