Gone without a trace: Family yet to find son’s body 14 months after drowning in Lake Victoria

According to the family, May 9, 2022, will forever remain written in their memory.

That’s the day their 30-year-old son Isaac Kawa drowned after falling from a canoe while fishing in the deep waters of Lake Victoria.

Isaac was in the company of two other fishermen when the incident happened near Lukuba island, a few kilometres into Tanzania. 

Isaac’s body has never been recovered.

According to the family, Isaac left behind a pregnant wife – who went on to give birth to twins a few weeks after he drowned.

“The children have grown. It’s unfortunate they will never get a chance to see their father, but we leave everything to God,” his elder brother Santos Kawa told Wananchi Reporting from their home in Sumba village.

According to Santos, the family has not received any help or information relating to their lost kin.

“After searching for the body for months, we had no option but to stop because it was becoming very expensive to fuel boats to do the searches,” he said.

After the incident, family, friends and Sumba-Beach management spent time and money searching for the body in the deep waters – but the body was never found.

“Our search parties used more than 2000 liters of fuel moving across the lake searching for the body. Unfortunately, we never found the body,” says Santos.

Isaac reportedly fell in the water around 2pm on that fateful day – a few minutes after preparing a meal which he was to eat together with his colleagues.

He had been taking a nap on top of a plastic bin used to store fish – when he slid and fell in the water.

“I guess he slept, and before we knew it, he was gone. All we heard was a splash, and he was gone,” said one of his colleagues.

His colleagues would go on to spend two hours until 4pm that evening, waiting and searching for his body to emerge. It didn't.

The family is hopeful that the remains of their son will one day be found.