The Ugandan police have said that 107 people have died in a boat disaster on a lake along the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The accident was said to have happened on Saturday but death toll rise on Monday as rescue officials recovered more dead bodies from the lake.

The boat was said to have began its journey at the northern end of Lake Albert and was heading south to a landing site on the Ugandan shoreline when it ran into trouble at around mid-morning on Saturday.

Local reporters say the boat was carrying mostly Congolese refugees on the Lake which is mainly used as a means of transport for those in East Africa. Police say the boat was overloaded resulting in the accident.

The Albertine Rift region of Uganda is home to thousands of Congolese refugees who have fled their homes over the years as a result of the prolong conflict in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by various rebels groups.

The Reuters African Service quoted the Albertine regional police commander, Charles Sebambulidde as saying that about 150 people were on the boat and that they expect no more survivors.

“Since the rescue operations began on Saturday we have recovered a total of 107 bodies and we think we have roughly accounted for every one although we can’t rule out more bodies being found since our working number of those on board was an estimate”.

“At this time our search is for bodies because we don’t think any more survivors are still out there in the lake”, he said.

Local reporters say boat disasters are relatively common on Uganda’s lakes, which include Lake Victoria and Lake Edward which officials blame on overloading, lack of maintenance and enforcement of safety standards.

In January this year, more than 250 people crossing the Nile River from the conflict in South Sudan also drowned, prompting concerns of the various lakes transport in East Africa.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News

Writer’s Email Address: Adamsisska@googlemail.com

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