Today in History: Lt Col Jet Mwebaze Found Dead After Rwenzori Plane Crash

What the report says

Lieutenant Colonel Jet Mwebaze, a National Resistance Army officer who joined the bush war in 1982, was found dead in 1998 after surviving a plane crash in the Rwenzori Mountains, according to Nile Post. The crash involved a Kenyan-registered Britten-Norman Islander that left Entebbe International Airport on September 25, 1998. Although the aircraft had filed a plan for Kasese, the flight was diverted toward Bunia and Beni in the Democratic Republic of the Congo before encountering difficult weather and mountain waves near the Rwenzori range.

The aircraft came down on Karubura Peak in Kisomoro, Kabarole District. The pilot, Enoth Luwunzu, was killed, while several passengers survived with serious injuries. Mwebaze was among the survivors of the initial impact, but the report says he suffered fractured ribs and was badly weakened. As the group tried to move downhill and signal for help, he reportedly urged his colleagues to go ahead while he stayed behind near a stream.

Search efforts were slowed by rough terrain, bad weather and security challenges. Rescue teams and local hunters found the wreckage on September 30, and Mwebaze’s body was later discovered on October 3 along the River Nyamwamba, having died from exposure, extreme cold and exhaustion. Nile Post says he was buried with military honours on October 7, 1998, at Kapeeka Heroes Cemetery, where he was the first person interred. The case remains a reminder of the risks faced in mountain aviation and the difficulties of rescue operations in remote terrain.