A lot has been said about the Saturday, November 24,2018 #LakeVictoriaBoatAccident in which a boat reportedly carrying over 100 people capsized, killing 33(recovered bodies so far) , leaving scores still unaccounted for, although at least 27 others were rescued alive.
Little has been said about the men, mostly fishermen , who braved the waters at dusk to save lives despite the meager resources they had at their disposal.
Eyewitness say the Uganda Police and the marine team from the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) arrived at the scene in Mukono at 1 am in the night , about two hours after the fishermen had already retired from the rescue mission.
Amuza Mulwana,33, who has plied the waters for seven and half years said claims that he saved seven people.
Mulwana, 33, was waiting to check on his cast nets for fish when he saw a light coming from the direction of Mutima beach but since his boat’s engine had taken in a lot of water, it failed to start immediately.
“But I could not wait for it to start. I jumped on one of Abdul Nsubuga (another fisherman) and went to the water. When we reached, I realised so many people could not swim so I jumped in myself” he said.
George Onyango
George Onyango, 27, is a Kenyan although born in Uganda who says he singlehandedly saved 20 people although three of them later died. These twenty included Buganda Prince; David Kintu Wasajja .
Onyango who has been fishing in the waters around Mutima beach for eleven years now, narrated that from Buzindeere village where his main base is, he first saw MV Templar – the sunken boat buzzing very loud music around where he was fishing, at around 7:30pm.
“The music was not bad. I was actually dancing to it as I worked,” he narrated but no sooner had he lifted his eyes off the boat than people started screaming.
within a split second, he noticed that the part of the boat was tilted and it started submerging.
With his engine boat, he called out to his colleagues to rush to the rescue of the drowning people, as he sailed near and asked them to jump off.
”He had a heart of gold, a true martyr who sacrificed himself for others to live. When I called in for help , Owejo was one of the first respondents despite being ill-prepared. He did not even have a life jacket .
As he swam to save victims who were at the time still alive, Owejo did not imagine himself dying but after streching out a helping hand to several survivors on the small engine boat and noticing that it was also bound to capsize as the people had over powered it, the fisherman sacrificed himself for the rest to reach the shore.
His energy, however, deserted him and he drowned moments later. Karim and other colleagues have since described him as a man of courage whose example will forever be remembered.
Brian Masole Kiggundu is not a fisherman, but a 23 year old university Mass Communication student at Kampala International University (KIU) who were also enjoying a weekend on the waters, as he and his friends had hired a boat for their experience.
Masole says he saw MV Templar capsize and he immediately sped his colleagues ashore and returned to save accident victims who included singer Irene Namubiru.
In her account of the incident, she used the torch on her phone to guide Masole to her location where Templar Bisaase’s wife Sheila , who later died was also fighting for her life.
“He heard my distress calls for help as I saw other boats passing us by, saw the light of my phone that I kept waving up and came right to me. He asked me for the phone, bag and then pulled me in, the singer posted on her Facebook.
It also important to note that socialite Bryan White who has since Sunday camped at Mutima beach has given each of the fishermen involved in the rescue mission Shs100,000 for their efforts.
