Divers undergo safety drills at Lido Beach ahead of New Year festivities Photo by Paul Adude.
In Summary
Second chance. Entebbe Municipality has lifted the closure of beaches.
ENTEBBE. Divers have been deployed at various beaches on Lake Victoria shores following the tragedy where 13 people allegedly drowned during the Christmas fun-swimming.
Police ordered beach owners and managers to ensure presence of divers, marine and ground police, spotlights, first aid providers, cordoning off restricted swimming areas, warning sign posts and close by 9pm. Addressing reporters at Lido Beach yesterday, Entebbe senior assistant town clerk Dan Fred Lutaaya said only beaches that have set up safety measures will be allowed to resume business.
“In what we have observed so far, Lido Beach has implemented what we requested of them and we are going to reopen them,” he said. He added that the municipal and security teams will carry out routine inspection of the beaches.
Senior marine officer Samuel Atabua told Saturday Monitor that 45 divers had been deployed at the beaches for emergency situations.
“We have demarcated the safe swimming areas at 20-30 feet from the shoreline and in depth, people will stop at the average shoulder height of 5 feet,” he explained.
He said children won’t be allowed in the lake unaccompanied and won’t go into water that is above their waist level. He also advised revellers to stop swimming at 6pm or while drunk.
Entebbe municipality lifted the mandatory closure of the beaches following the drowning. Some of the beaches where safety measures had been put in place Saturday Monitor visited included Lido, Sports Beach and Aero.
“We have up to 10 divers that have been deployed at the beach, marine police and rescue teams” said Lido Beach manager David Kanonya.
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