Four people die, three missing as R.Tangi bursts banks again
Nov 27, 2024
Four taxi occupants including a soldier who was in one of the rescue boats also died.
Onlookers look at retrieved dead bodies after the disaster. (Credit: Edna Piyic)
NewVision Reporter
@NewVision
PAKWACH - The effects of the incessant rains that have been pounding the different parts of the country have spread, claiming lives of people.
The rains have caused several water bodies including River Tangi, which burst its banks today, November 27, 2024.
As a result, the river swelled and swallowed up sections of the road at Tangi Junction on Olwiyo-Pakwach road, adjacent Pakwach Bridge has affected connectivity between Arua to Gulu and Gulu to Kampala.
This is the second time the river is bursting its banks in four months with the first one having been in early August.
By press time, four people had died and their bodies were retrieved from River Tangi after a drone (Toyota Hiace) taxi was blocked in the middle of the road by the river's waters.
Four taxi occupants including a soldier who was in one of the rescue boats also died.
The Pakwach district Police community liaison officer Dominic Owinjuru said four bodies have been retrieved whereas three were still missing.
According to Christopher Owachgiu, an eyewitness, the taxi was moving from Pakwach heading to Lira.
He accused the taxi driver of refusing to heed his warning or returning to Pakwach when the river's waters started rising.
Two boats have so far capsized on the rescue mission, one with soldiers and the other from the National Roads Authority (UNRA).
UNRA has provided alternative routes for people travelling to and from West NIle, Gulu and Kampala.