Kiira Marine Police successfully recovered the body of a Tanzanian engineer who had gone missing after the cargo ship he was aboard docked at Jinja, on Lake Victoria, last week.
Seni Daniel Rassa, a 44-year-old second engineer in command of the 600-tonne MV Munanka from Tanzania, which was loaded with coal from Mwanza Port, arrived at Jinja Port on October 1, 2023, at around 2:00 am, with a 14-member crew. On October 5, the ship’s captain, Richard Octavian Mkama, reported that one crew member was missing.
James Mubi, the Kiira region Police spokesperson, suspects that upon docking, Rassa and his colleagues went to relax at the nearby Rippon landing site after their long journey. After a night of enjoyment and returning to the ship in the late morning, Rassa, while attending to a phone call at the edge of the vessel, is believed to have lost his balance and fallen into Lake Victoria, where he tragically drowned. His colleagues had gone to sleep by that time.
The Kiira Police marine commander, Sunday Bruno, led an extensive search operation for several days, eventually recovering Rassa’s body on Saturday from the deep waters of Jinja Port. Rassa’s body was taken to Jinja Regional Referral Hospital for a post-mortem examination and later handed over to the vessel’s manager for transportation to Mujora in Kisesa, Mwanza, via the Mutukula border for burial.
