Kabale, Uganda | URN | The body of a 22-year-old Senior Four student of Lake Bunyonyi Senior Secondary School in Kabale District has been recovered from Lake Bunyonyi, four days after he drowned while attempting to swim across the lake. The deceased, Samuel Amanya, was found floating on the lake on Wednesday morning, three days after he drowned between Itambira and Bwama islands.
Amanya, a resident of Kaberu-Katooma Village in Mwendo Parish, Kitumba Sub-county, was a Senior Four candidate at the school located on Bwama Island. He drowned at about 11 am on Saturday, October 3, 2026, after reportedly deciding to swim across the lake when he could not find the canoe he had used to travel to Itambira Island.
Amanya had paddled the canoe from Katooma Village to Itambira Island and arrived safely. However, when he prepared to return, he discovered that the canoe had been moved from where he had left it. He then attempted to swim from Itambira to Bwama Island but drowned in the process.
Marine Police and residents launched a search for him, but the initial efforts to locate his body were unsuccessful. Simon Byamukama, a director of Paradise Eco-Hub Foundation, a community-based organisation involved in sustainable ecotourism, environmental conservation and community development around Lake Bunyonyi, said the body was spotted floating on the lake at about 7:30am on Wednesday.
Byamukama, together with Silas Nomwesigwa, who was caring for the deceased, retrieved the body from the lake and transported it to the family home in Katooma Village. Byamukama and Nomwesigwa said Amanya’s burial was scheduled for Wednesday. Amanya’s death is the second reported drowning involving a student of Lake Bunyonyi Senior Secondary School.
In August 2023, a Senior Two student, Martin Izabayo from Kisoro District, drowned in Lake Bunyonyi while attempting to escape from the school. Izabayo and his friend, Daniel Owamani, also a Senior Two student from Bubare Sub-county in Rubanda District, had reportedly left the school to visit Harutinda Market after allegedly being denied permission by the school administration to leave the school.
The two reportedly ventured onto the lake in a canoe without life jackets and used sticks normally used to support climbing beans to paddle. The canoe capsized in the middle of the lake, resulting in Izabayo’s death. Owamani was rescued by local divers.
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