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Six bodies from sunken MV Nyamageni buried in UG
2006-05-22 07:29:54
By Emmanuel Chacha, Mwanza
While the task of the inquiry commission formed by the government to investigate the MV Nyamageni ill-fated accident in Lake Victoria is expected to start this week, six bodies believed to be from the capsized ship were recovered and buried in Uganda.
The Kagera Regional Commissioner, Enos Mfuru, said the captain of the Ugandan cargo ship MV Kalaghe found the bodies floating on the lake but due to their worse condition it was impossible to ferry them to their relatives for burial.
’’The Deputy Minister for Infrastructure Development, Dr Maua Daftari, told me that six bodies were recovered on May 9 in Uganda, about three weeks from the time of the accident.
The bodies were in bad condition hence they could not be transported to our country for burial. They decided to bury them in Uganda,’’ he said.
The RC added that apart from the bodies, a number of empty crates of soda were found floating on the lake. The crates were part of the cargo carried by the ship.
The cargo ship belonging to a prominent businessman here, Jumanne Kishimba, sank into Lake Victoria on April 21 with about 28 people on board. It was sailing from Bukoba to Mwanza.
The ship, which had been banned to operate since 2004 by the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (SUMATRA) had also in its holds, 20 tons of maize, 4,000 empty crates of Coca Cola and 2,000 empty crates of Pepsi.
Retired Justice Samson Mfalila is leading the inquiry team and it had been given 30 days to accomplish the work and submit the report to the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, as per marine safety law of 2003 stipulates.
Other members of the team are Musa Mandia, Eng Yassin Songoro, F.K. Luoga and Mary Ngowi.
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