The two bodies of fishermen who drowned in River Nile on Thursday last week when the boat engine reportedly developed a mechanical problem and capsized have been retrieved amid protests.
The deceased were identified as Mansur Mokili of Yumbe District and Ismail Opel of Pakwach District, while Ismail Oukounci, who was steering the boat at the time of the accident, survived.
The incident is said to have happened between the New Jinja Bridge and Uganda Railways Bridge in Buikwe District while the fishermen were going to cast their nets in the waters.
Since then, security and search parties intensified the hunt for the victims which yielded results on Saturday morning with the retrieval of Mr Mokili’s body.
However, protests immediately erupted after some of the members from the Alur community in Jinja City stopped the West Nile community, to which Mr Mokili belonged, from taking his body for burial until the body of Mr Opel, an Alur, was also retrieved.
Mr Emmanuel Mange, the chairperson Nile Landing Site where the incident happened, said: “There is belief that when two people drown at the same time and one body is discovered, it should not be retrieved from the water or buried because the other one will not be seen.”