Police reported that 20 people were killed when a boat capsized on Lake Victoria in Ugandan waters on Wednesday morning while rescuers and locals looked for survivors.
The Ugandan police force posted on Twitter, which is being rebranded as X, that “so far, 20 people have been confirmed dead, and nine rescued.”
When the accident happened at around 5:00 a.m. (0200 GMT), the boat was transporting charcoal, fresh food, and fish, according to the police.
They continued, stating that they believed there to be about 34 people on board, “The cause of the accident is attributed to overloading and bad weather.”
“We urge the public to never overload their vessels and to always wear life jackets when they are on the water.”
The largest lake in Africa has seen a number of boat mishaps, which are frequently attributed to congestion and bad weather.
In November 2018, 32 people lost their lives when a pleasure boat capsized on Lake Victoria due to bad weather. According to Ugandan police, there were more than 90 partygoers on board.
On the Tanzanian side of Lake Victoria in September of that same year, the MV Nyerere passenger ferry capsized, killing hundreds of people.
The oval-shaped Lake Victoria, which is shared by Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, has a surface area of 70,000 square kilometres (27,000 square miles), making it about the size of Ireland.
Due to a lack of life jackets and the fact that few people are proficient swimmers, ferry accidents on the lake frequently result in a high number of fatalities.
In some areas of the Great Lakes region of Africa, boats are typically the only mode of transportation, and they are frequently crammed with people and in poor condition.