By Mubiru Ivan
‘A cat has nine lives’ so an ancient proverb goes.
‘For three he plays, for three he strays and for the last three he stays.’
The same can be said of some people who have endured near-death experiences only to walk out of the situation unscathed.
Iryn Namubiru is a living example of a person has stared death in the face and death blinked first.
The Nyonyi Ntono singer is among the 27 ‘known survivors’ of last Saturday’s Lake Victoria boat cruise accident that left more than 35 people dead.
The ill-fated MV Templar capsized in Mpatta Sub-county, Mukono District on its way from KK Beach to KPalm Resort. The tragedy was attributed to overloading.
While narrating her ordeal in a Facebook post on Wednesday, Namubiru revealed that before the boat capsized, there were many signs that something wrong was going to happen.
She said, she had refused to join the boat cruise party, but the ‘angel of death’ continued to persuade her to join the trail of his would be clients.
“While there, a friend of mine called Mr. Hope Mukasa calls me and tells me: you know what, I am here. Friends invited me for something. We are going on a boat,” said Namubiru.
“I wasn’t sure I wanted to go, but I asked him what time they were leaving. He told me maybe in an hour, then he called back after a few minutes telling me “we are leaving at 1:30pm to be exact, so that leaves you 50 minutes.” I told him “no way. I don’t do boat cruises, and I’m doing my nails anyway. I won’t have time to come.” Anyway, I wasn’t really enthusiastic, so I let it go,” she added.
Death continued to knock on Namubiru’s door, when Mukasa called her again for an umpteenth time begging her not to miss the partying chance.
Mukasa’s last call swayed Namubiru thus seeing herself dressing up and driving to Gaba to join other party goers. They boarded the boat and the fun continued.
However, the revelers’ joy was short lived; when the boat capsized within minutes docking.
Luckily, the singer managed to make it out alive.
“Eventually, a boat came. I saw it from a distance. I thought it was going to pass me by. I screamed “help! Help!” while waving my phone. They say it’s thanks to the torchlight that they saw us and I was rescued,” Namubiru said.
Not her first time to survive death
In her Facebook post, Namubiru disclosed that while at Namasagali College she survived drowning twice.
She said she fears water so much and swimming is far from her hobbies. The singer learnt how to swim because she had to at school.
“The feeling of going down under is something I have always dreamt of. It was like reliving those nightmares, because I fear water so much. I do not swim. I only learnt because it was compulsory in Namasagali College, where I studied and was rescued from drowning twice. I always panic and swallow water,” she posted.
Namubiru again cheated death when Police in Japan cleared her of drug trafficking charges.
In 2013, she was held in the Asian country for possessing MDGF, a narcotic drug made from cocaine, worth shs1.9 billion.
She was set free after police failed to find any evidence linking her to crime.
When it comes to illegal drugs, Japan has the harshest laws of any advanced democracy. In case someone is convicted, they could rot in jail.
