Over 50 revellers who survived the boat tragedy on Lake Victoria on November 24 have secretly picked their items from police after proving ownership.
Although there were concerns that the boat accident had claimed over 80 lives, Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire said the development indicates that more people survived the deadly accident.
Mr Owoyesigyire said during the seven-day rescue operation, National IDs, ATM cards and handbags were retrieved from the lake and the boat wreckage, adding that since then, 50 survivors of the accident have identified and taken them.
“They called the telephone numbers we gave out through the media and were informed to pick their items at Mukono Police Station,” he said.
“These new survivors have given us hope that actually many people survived this tragedy but they were perhaps in shock. We are happy that they have come out and personally picked these items. We urge those who haven’t picked their belongings to visit Mukono Police Station,” Mr Owoyesigyire said.
He howwever said that more items are still with the police with the owners yet to claim them.
“We are still having four unclaimed vehicles we recovered from KK Beach. These vehicles include one for Sheilla Bisase, who was the wife of the capsized boat owner Templar Bisase. It is unfortunate that Sheilla and Bisase perished in this tragedy,” Mr Owoyesigyire said.
Police identified the vehicles at Ggaba Police Station as a Spacio UAV 578V, belonging to Peace Busingye who perished in the tragedy, UAW 006G for Sheilla Bisase and UAL 762Q and UAS 415J, whose owners are not yet established. Mr Owoyesigyire said some people had tried to pick some of the cars but did not have supporting documents.