Uganda has lost at least $8-million after an uninsured state-owned cargo ship sank following a weekend collision with another vessel in the country’s part of Lake Victoria, officials said on Monday.
Insurance for the $8-million MV Kabarega had expired and was about to be renewed when the accident occurred on Sunday near Kuye island, about 50 nautical miles from Kampala, Paul Etiang, chairperson of the Uganda Railways Corporation (URC), said.
The Kabarega ran aground with 840 tonnes of cargo after colliding with the MV Kaawa, both owned by the state-owned URC. The Kaawa managed to sail back to Port Bell in Kampala, they said.
URC has three cargo vessels and none of them had been insured by Sunday, officials said.
The cause of the collision is still under investigation, they added.
In June 2003, 11 people drowned when a small passenger boat they were travelling in collided with another and sank on the Ugandan side of Lake Victoria, while in January the same year 30 people drowned on the Tanzanian side of the lake.
In the recent years, there have been several accidents in Lake Victoria, which is the largest freshwater lake in Africa and straddles Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, officials said. – Sapa-AFP