MV ''Kaawa'' is a
Lake Victoria ferry
Lake Victoria ferries are motor ships (earlier examples were steamboats) for ferry services carrying freight and/or vehicles and/or passengers between Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya on Lake Victoria.
Operating ferries on Lake Victoria are m ...
that was operated by the
Uganda Railways Corporation
The Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) is the parastatal railway of Uganda. It was formed after the breakup of the East African Railways Corporation (EARC) in 1977 when it took over the Ugandan part of the East African railways.
URC's system ...
.
2005 collision
In the early hours of 8 May 2005 ''Kaawa'' was ''en route'' to
Mwanza
Mwanza City, also known as Rock City to the residents, is a port city and capital of Mwanza Region on the southern shore of Lake Victoria in north-western Tanzania. With an urban population of 1,182,000 in 2021, it is Tanzania's second largest cit ...
in
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
when she
was involved in a collision with , which was ''en route'' to
Port Bell
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
in Uganda.
''Kaawa'' damaged her bow and ''Kabalega'' was damaged below the waterline.
[ ''Kaawa'' managed to return to port but a few hours after the collision ''Kabalega'' sank about southeast of the ]Ssese Islands
The Ssese Islands are an archipelago of eighty-four islands in the northwestern part of Lake Victoria in Uganda. The islands are coterminous with the Kalangala District in southern Central Uganda, which does not have any territory on mainland Uga ...
.[
URC's Chairman of Governors Paul Etiang admitted that ]marine insurance
Marine insurance covers the physical loss or damage of ships, cargo, terminals, and any transport by which the property is transferred, acquired, or held between the points of origin and the final destination. Cargo insurance is the sub-branch o ...
for ''Kaawa'', and ''Kabalega'' and their sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
had expired in December 2004 and not been renewed.radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
s was missing.[ Maritime convention is that ships passing each other in opposite directions should pass on each other's ]starboard
Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft and aircraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow (front).
Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which are ...
side. However, Kaliisa told the committee that ''Kaawa'' had lacked a starboard navigation light ''"for a long time"''.[
Kaliisa also told the committee that three years before the collision he had been appointed as third officer despite being only a sailor with no marine training or qualifications.][ ''Kaawa''s First Officer, Samuel Kyabukulu, told the committee that Kaliisa was not qualified to steer the ship. Despite this, ''Kaawa''s ]master
Master or masters may refer to:
Ranks or titles
* Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans
*Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...
, Captain Albert Ocaya, told the committee ''"When I handed over the ship ''(i.e. to Kaliisa)'', I did not expect anything strange"'' and ''"If Kaliisa had notified me about the trouble, the accident would have been averted"''.[ However, as master, Ocaya would have been responsible both for ''Kaawa'' sailing in darkness without navigation lights, without one of her radars, and with a third officer who had none of the necessary qualifications.
A commission of inquiry attributed the collision to inadequately trained crew on the ]bridges
A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whic ...
of both ferries and a lack of communication equipment.[ The report also highlighted the absence of a ]search and rescue
Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
unit that could have reached the sinking ferry soon enough.[
]
Proposed return to service
In September 2005 Uganda's minister of works, John Nasasira, claimed that structural repairs ''Kaawas collision damage and to her sister ship ''Pemba'' were almost complete but that USh 3.4 billion was needed ''"to fully repair and maintain, class and insure the vessels"''.[ By October 2009 the two ferries were still out of service but Nasasira claimed the Government would recondition both vessels and would return ''Pemba'' to service in 2010 and ''Kaawa'' in 2011.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaawa
Ferries of Uganda
Maritime incidents in 2005
1980s ships
Train ferries