Five people have been confirmed dead on Lake Kyoga after a heavy storm hit the lake and overturned their boat on Sunday night.
Mr Simon Peter Agama, the district police commander for Serere confirmed the incident, advising people sailing on the lake to always put on marine jackets for safety purposes.
“The experienced marine officers are leading the search, I hope at the close of the day, some bodies will be received from the waters,” he said.
One of the survivors of yesterday’s storm Moses Onama said that he only managed to survive after he got hold on the sides of the canoe boat that they were using.
Mr Colin’s Omoen, the chairperson fishing communities on Serere lakeshores told this reporter that the boat carrying the deceased persons was sailing from Murem landing site in Kaberamaido district and was headed to Kadungulu in Serere district.
Mr Omoen identified the dead as Denis Okitwe, Sam Arikodi, Betty Acunyo, Joyce Ijou, and one only identified as Odele.
Omoen added that the accident happened at around 8pm after a heavy storm swept mostly across all landing sites along the Serere belt.
Mr Omoen said that the deceased are believed to have been looking to harvest Tarmarins and collecting firewood from Kadungulu Sub County in Serere. He however said that the dead bodies are still missing although marine police and locals are doing their best to retrieve them for burrial.
“Many of our colleagues in the fishing community have gone to the lake together with the marine policemen to help search for the bodies,” he said.
