A woman is feared dead after drowning in water when a passenger boat she was travelling in capsized. Efforts to retrieve the body of Nyirantezilyayo are still ongoing.
Nine passengers were onboard from Boneza sector to Musasa sector in Rutsiro district in the morning hours on Monday.
Eight passengers were rescued by divers from the Marine Police unit while the body of one woman, Julienne Nyirantezilyayo, was still missing. She is presumed to have died after several hours of searching proved fruitless.
According to sources from the Marine Police Unit, the cause of the accident was due to heavy waves that upturned the boat. The sources further noted that passengers didn’t have any life jackets.
Though not common, such accidents do happen from time to time and Marine Police has through its outreach program to residents urged people to use certified water vessels.
The commanding officer of Marine Police unit Superintendent Eugene Mushayija has discouraged people from using banned boats such as canoes for transport and urged them to always wear life jackets.
“We would not have lost someone had all the passengers had their life jackets on,” Superintendent Mushayija said.
Rwanda National Police calls on people using water transport to abandon travelling in non certified water vessels but also demand to have life jackets distributed to them before embarking on their journeys.
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