Ugandan police rescues 80 people on ill-fated boat

The Ugandan police late on Tuesday rescued more than 80 people who were stuck on Lake Victoria in the central part of the country after their boat developed an engine failure, said a statement issued here on Wednesday. The boat, setting out from Nakiwongo landing site 40 km south of the capital Kampala to the central district of Kalangala, got stuck in the middle of Lake Victoria on Tuesday afternoon. After rescuing all of them alive, the marine police took them up to Lusubuka landing site in Kalangala, the police said in the statement. Boats traveling on Ugandan lakes are often overloaded and accidents are frequent. There have been calls for life jackets to be compulsory, but the measure has not been effectively implemented.