Fresh details have emerged that police marine officers advised the ill-fated boat operators and revelers from leaving KK Beach at Ggaba Landing Site in Kampala in vain after being told of hurried mechanical works on the vessel moments before they set off.
According to the minister of state for transport Aggrey Bagiire, the revelers who included prominent Ugandans like Buganda Kingdom Prince David Wasajja, threatened police offices at KK beach after being advised against using the boat.
While speaking on NTV fourth estate show, Mr Bagiire said that the revelers were determined to use the boat despite the warning, adding that Ugandans should respect the police always.
Relatedly, the police spokesperson for the Mutima rescue and recovery operation, Ms Zurah Ganyana, said in an interview with Daily Monitor that their officers engaged the group telling them the boat had been grounded for three months and refurbishments had been hurriedly done, but they attempted to turn rowdy.
“They did not listen to our officers and continued with their journey,” Ms Ganyana said.
According to police, after an exchange on Saturday between their officers and revellers, MV Templar capsized about 100 metres from Mutima Beach on Lake Victoria in Mukono District’s Mpatta Sub-county at about 7pm.
At least 32 people were killed, 40 rescued and an unknown number of passengers are still missing.
The operation to recover more bodies is ongoing and the death toll is expected to rise as hopes for recovering anyone alive diminish.
Meanwhile some survivors of the Saturday boat tragedy partly blame the accident on the unruly nature of the revelers, who they say ignored safety instructions.
One of the survivors in a WhatsApp voice message that has gone viral told her friend Racheal that the vessel had a hole and water entered from underneath forcing it to capsize.
She says that most of the revelers were drunk and ignored the Coxswain’s safety precautions.
“The people who control the vessel pleaded with us not to sit on one side so as to enable it balance on water, but of course people were drunk they couldn’t listen,” she said adding that people were drinking beer and smoking shisha at the time.
The survivor account reflects President Yoweri Museveni’s statement yesterday in which he said that the revelers who were in a partying mood could have ignored emergency commands.
“The passengers also seemed to be partying with a lot of music. They might not have heard the emergency commands of the captain, who is still unaccounted for,” the President said.
The President also revealed that the boat was privately owned, unregistered, unlicensed and “maybe uninsured.”