Survivor recounts

By Akim Bagile "WE left Arua at 5:50am. We reached Nebbi well. But at Nyaravur, we identified a problem with the brake pipe. We drove slowly up to Pakwach where we welded it. We took off from Pakwach at about 10:30am. But when we reached Purongo, which is about 40km away, we had the same problem again. We repaired it and took off. When we reached Karuma, the driver tried to control the bus but it veered off the road and plunged into the water. At the time of the accident, I was in the middle of the bus moving towards the conductor's seat. We did not have any standing passengers. I don't remember how many children were on the bus, but some people had moved with their families. It was about midday when we got to Karuma bridge. I don't remember quite well what happened thereafter but I heard a loud bang and people were yelling for help. I saw myself in water, lucky enough I was not badly injured. I got some bruises on my arm. Other people hit their heads on the stones. One person, who had refused to sit at the back and moved towards the driver's seat, could have perished because the driver's cabin is under the water. The UPDF soldiers guarding there rescued us. The soldiers called some wananchi who assisted them to lift us from the water. The rear part of the bus came to the surface and some of us who survived were pulled out through there. They dropped ropes and we were pulled one by one. I could not see the others. The fast flowing water could have swept some of them. It is God who saved me. This is God's power. I survived through God's luck. I must thank God." (Bagile, the bus conductor, recounted the day's events to Felix Osike) Ends