At least 20 killed in Lake Victoria boat accident in Uganda

Kampala: Nearly 20 people lost their lives after an overloaded boat capsized in the Ugandan water of Lake Victoria, according to Al Jazeera. Additionally, five people are still missing.

According to the police, the incident happened at 5 am on Wednesday. The vessel was carrying charcoal, fresh foods and fish at the time of the accident, reported Al Jazeera citing the police.

However, the cause of the accident is reportedly overloading and bad weather.
The police officials tweeted, “The cause of [the] accident is attributed to overloading and bad weather."

Whereas nine passengers have been rescued, it added.

Moreover, police said that rescue efforts to locate the missing people are underway, reported Al Jazeera.

Police said rescue efforts to locate the missing people were underway.

“We appeal to members of the public who travel on waters to always wear life jackets and not to overload their vessels,” it added.

Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake is shared by Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania with a surface area of 70,000sq km which makes it roughly the size of Ireland, Al Jazeera reported.

In the past years, there have been multiple boat disasters reported on the oval-shaped lake attributing the blame to overcrowding and poor weather.

In 2018, nearly 32 people dies after a pleasure boat sank on Lake Victoria during bad weather. Moreover, in September of that year, hundreds died after the MV Nyerere passenger ferry sank on the Tanzanian side of Lake Victoria.