KTLA

Boat Accident in Uganda Claims At Least 35 Lives

At least 35 people died in a boat accident on Lake Victoria in Uganda on Saturday, according to the Ugandan Police Force.

Rescuers search for victims at the site of a capsized cruise boat on Lake Victoria near Mutima village, south of Kampala, Uganda, on November 25, 2018. – Thirty people drowned and more than 60 were feared dead after a pleasure boat sank in Lake Victoria, Ugandan police said, in the latest such incident on Africa’s largest body of water. (Credit: Isaac Kasamani/AFP/Getty Images)

Police said the boat was “in poor mechanical shape” and was overloaded with passengers on a lake cruise when it capsized.

A marine unit has rescued 26 people, and searches are ongoing to find more passengers. More than 50 people are unaccounted for, said Army Lt. Col. Deo Akiiki Asimwe.

Authorities said they expect the death toll to rise.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni offered condolences to the victims, adding that “according to preliminary information from the security services” the boat was “private, unregistered, unlicensed and maybe uninsured.”

Somalia’s President also tweeted about the incident, saying the people of Somalia “stand by Uganda [in] this trying moment of grief.”

Ugandan police spokesman Patrick Onyango said there was bad weather at the time of the accident.

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