Two women, infant die in Lake Bunyonyi boat incident

Two women and an infant perished when a boat they were travelling in capsized on Lake Bunyonyi on Saturday.

Racheal Naturinda and her 5-month-old baby only identified as Grant and Lehonelia Kesande drowned after the boat was hit by hailstorm.

Naturinda's body was recovered on Monday.

The boat with five occupants was caught in hailstorms and battered by strong winds at around 3pm, witnesses said.

Steven Kabarebe said he heard people making alarm in the lake and saw a canoe capsize.

“I saw the boat tossing up and down in the lake, I immediately rushed to get another canoe for rescue but it was so unfortunate, I found when they had drowned," Kabarebe said.

Locals in Kabale District joined Police Marine Unit at Lake Bunyonyi Sunday in the search for the bodies, at first in desperation of finding at least one of them alive.

The Murandi Village chairman, Elidad Kalanzi, said at around 4:30, he received a phone call that people had drowned in a lake as they were trying to rush to look for shelter since it was raining.

He confirmed that three of the five people in the boat had drowned.

“I was told that two people and one child had drowned,” Kalanzi said.

Straddling the south-western districts of Kabale, Rubanda and Kisoro, Bunyonyi is famed for beauty.

Its the pride of not only Ugandans but also the nation at large, having graced the aaShs5000central bank note between 2004 and 2009.

Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda’s third deepest lake after Victoria and Mutand, hosts 29 Islands each with a Unique story.

George Asiimwe, one of the residents, appealed to the government to provide life jackets per family, since crossing Lake Bunyonyi is a matter of life and death for them.

“This is not the first scenario and it has been happening for a very long time," he said.

"As locals leaving here, we call upon the government to intervein and avail for us live jackets as well as engine boats since we cannot do without travelling on the lake to the farms and communities across."

Kigezi Sub-region police spokesperson Elly Maate told Nile Post in a phone interview that the search is ongoing as marine police joins with the locals.

Cases of drowning are common on Lake Bunyonyi. Last year a teacher and Genesis Nursery and Primary school drowned. Lake Bunyonyi is second deepest lake in Africa after Tanganyika in neighboring Tanzania.

Lake Bunyonyi has 29 islands and the major means of Transport are dugout canoes and some engine boats.