The bodies of two fishermen who drowned in Lake Victoria on Friday have been retrieved at Rambira beach in Karachuonyo constituency.
Meshack Ochuma, 32, and Pius Bura, 42, drowned after a boat they were using during a fishing expedition capsized due to a prevailing strong wind.
The situation forced their fellow fishermen to begin searching for their bodies on Friday.
The fishermen were assisted in the search by officers of the Kenya Coastguard Service.
Lake Victoria Beach Management Unit chairman Tom Guda said fishermen’s bodies were found floating on the water several metres from where they drowned.
“It was sad that we lost our fishermen in a serious accident. They are people whose families are still young and highly dependent on them,” Guda said.
Speaking after the bodies were found, the BMU officer urged fishermen to continually put on life jackets when they are in the lake.
The fishermen are reported to have put on life jackets but they failed to float during the incident.
Guda questioned the quality of life jackets the fishermen wore that day. He urged government authorities led by the Kanya Maritime Authority (KMA) to ensure only quality of life jackets are provided to fishermen.
“Let KMA and the Department of Disaster Management conduct investigations on the quality of life jackets produced today. The current life jackets are of poor quality, making it unable to save someone in case of an accident,” he said.
The bodies were moved to Simbiri mortuary.
The fishermen reportedly drowned during a storm which was prevailing in the lake.
The storm was orchestrated by rains which fell in the lake region on Thursday night. They were fishing in two different boats carrying four fishermen each.
The remaining six fishermen were rescued by their colleagues. The boats were also taken to their beach.
Rachuonyo North subcounty Police Commander Lydia Parteiyie said the incident was reported and they are undertaking investigations to establish the cause of the accident.
“We first focused on retrieving the bodies. Investigations are going on,” she said.
