KAMPALA (UGANDA): At least 30 people are feared dead after an overloaded fishing boat sunk in Lake Albert in southwestern Uganda on Christmas Day.

At the time of incident, the vessel carrying some 45 people including football team and their fans. According to local police, the cause of the accident is believed to be overloading. Nine bodies have been recovered, and 15 people have been rescued, reports say.

Police say the boat became unbalanced when too many passengers moved to one side.

The group, from Buliisa district, was on its way to a Christmas day football match in Hoima district, singing songs and blowing trumpets and whistles and none of them was wearing any life jackets, police added.

The accident comes just two days after another boat accident claimed six lives in Lake Victoria in Kalangala district in central Uganda.

Boat accidents are fairly common on Lake Albert and in other parts of Africa. Since 2000, over 250 people have lost their lives in Lake Albert alone with the worst accident occurring in February 2004, when 45 people died. In November, 10 people drowned in Lake Albert on the country's western shore.