EASTERN PROVINCE

Gatsibo—Police and army personnel have retrieved the bodies of two men who drowned in Lake Muahzi days ago. One of the dead is a senior-four student of Umutara Polytechnic.

During his burial, 27 fellow students were admitted to the local hospital over trauma.

Emmanuel Nkurikiyinka, studying in the department of Veterinary medicine, and Grace Mukantwali have now been laid to rest.

Seven students of Umutara polytechnic who were on the same boat when it sank in the lake are alive and currently under observation.

Superintendent Medari Kubwimana refuted previous reports that he was an aware of the drowning.

"The truth of the matter is that [I was] among the people who reached the scene trying to see how we could save the situation,” Kubwimana said.

As the corpses were being retrieved from the waters where over twenty seven students were immersed with fear and shock.

"When students saw the security operatives retrieving the corpses they all fell in trauma,” one police officer said, preferring anonymity.

Director of Umutara Polytechnic Peter Claver Kabanda said it has shocked the student body and faculty.

"The school was closed for mourning but at moment we have reopened normally,” Kabanda said.

"It was shocking and unbelievable to see retrieving the body from the waters.” The district has taken measures to curb such drowning again by barring all local boats from operating on the lake.

Ends