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Boat accident in Ukerewe claims lives
2005-07-10 11:00:00
By Joyce Ngallawa and George Ramadhani, PST,
Over 20 people are feared dead following a boat they were travelling in on Friday to have capsized in Lake Victoria, at Izinga islands of Ukerewe District, Mwanza Region.
Early reports reaching this paper late yesterday had it that the fateful incident occurred at 11.00pm on Friday.
Following the incident, a high powered delegation from the Police Forces led by the Regional Police Commander (RPC) Zelothe Stephen, in collaboration with Marine Services Company (MSC) was reported to have arrived at the scene for the rescue and bodies’ retrieval mission.
According to the sources, the boat involved in the accident, christened MV Sangara, was travelling from Izinga to Ghana via Kamasi islands.
The sources further claim that MV Sangara had carried over 50 passengers who were all heading for Ukerewe District.
Earlier reports from the RPC office indicated that only 10 people had so far been confirmed to have survived in the accident.
However, speaking to PST, a senior police officer in the RPC’s office, one Kisanga said his office was still communicating with its people at the scene to establish more details of the accident, including the actual death toll.
The Ukerewe Counsellor (Special Seats-CCM), Hidaya Edward told PST the fateful vessel was overloaded as it was carrying over 55 passengers and an unspecified kilos of luggage.
It is suspected that the cause of the accident could be overloading.
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