As the country mourns 32 people who drowned in Lake Victoria over the weekend, Ugandans have been urged to go for swimming lessons and prepare for such scenarios.
This comes after several survivors including singer Iryn Namubiru allegedly swam to the shores when tragedy hit. According to these survivors, the boat was just 100m away from the shores, a distance which was easier for those with swimming skills to escape.
However, others blame drugs and alcohol for disabling some of the known best swimmers to escape. Others were also betrayed by their failure to wear life jackets which were handed to them by the boat management.
However, a professional swimmer and trainer who was also part of the rescue mission, Kalyango from swimsafe company pokes holes in the current life jackets used by boat companies. He says most of them can only carry small kilograms that they people that wear them. This also makes it hard for people to keep afloat when boats capsize.
Kalyango says Ugandans should have personal care and stop waiting for government to deploy rescuers on all lakes to save them. He says every Ugandan if possible, should learn to swim, for personal safety. Also, pupils should be taught that one needs a life jackets to avoid drowning.
“When someone falls into water, they go into shock It is also advisable for all Ugandans to learn basic rescue tricks so as to help others in case of such an emergency. 32 people died and at least 40 others survived when a boat they were on capsized on Lake Victoria. The revelers were allegedly on an invite only boat cruise organized by traders from Kikuubo as their end of year activity.
Some of the notable survivors are Buganda Prince David Wassajja, businessman Freeman Kiyimba and singer IrynNamubiru among others.
The boat owner Templar Bisaso and his wife Sheillah also perished in the accident along with many known Kampala socialites who were having the best time of their life.
