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<\/a><\/p>\nGoodluck Musinguzi<\/p>\n
3 December 2011<\/p>\n
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Kabale \u2014 THE joint force of UPDF-Police marines has failed to recover the bodies of the two Danish nationals who reportedly drowned in Lake Bunyonyi on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The search for the bodies of Burtin Sebastian, 21 and Suith Tomas, 20 enters the third day.<\/p>\n
The Regional Police public relations officer (PRO) Southwestern Uganda, Elly Maate reported that on Friday, the marines took four dives but failed to find the bodies, prompting them to employ another plan.<\/p>\n
Maate said the rescuers started using hooks towards the afternoon, but it was all in vain.<\/p>\n
“The hooks will be used as a guide to detect the bodies and should they feel anything heavier, divers will be let in the water again to pick the bodies.”<\/p>\n
However, the hook method had earlier been abandoned because the kind that was to be employed was that which the local fishermen around the area use for fishing. It was then that the marines opted to get the right type of hooks.<\/p>\n
The PRO explained that the type of hooks they are using now are the genuine ones, officially suited for recovering bodies in deep or muddy water bodies.<\/p>\n
But Danish Embassy officials present at the lake protested the hook method, which prompted the Ugandan ministers of defense and internal affairs to intervene into the matter.<\/p>\n
After the UPDF Marine commander at the site, Colonel Micheal Nyarwa spoke on phone with the Deputy Ambassador of the Royal Danish Embassy in Kampala, a resolution to abandon the hook method seemed to have been made.<\/p>\n
The search team will continue to dive in the waters with the hope of recovering the two bodies.<\/p>\n
So far, eight plunges into the lake’s depths have been made with the team diving in pairs. Each dive takes about an hour, after which the oxygen tank must be refilled upon resurfacing.<\/p>\n
The search continues today (Saturday).<\/p>\n
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