Seven people killed in Iganga commuter taxi crash
Reports from Iganga and Jinja hospitals, which received injured people, indicate that their condition was critical with several nursing broken limbs.
Taxi which was involved in the crash. (Credit: Ivan Wakibi)
_______________
Seven people died instantly while many others sustained serious injuries when a commuter taxi and trailer collided at Namasoga village along the Iganga-Jinja highway on Friday night.
The head-on collision involved a commuter taxi registration number UBR 062Q from Kampala heading to Busia and a trailer registration number ZF0842 from Iganga.
The deceased and injured were all passengers in the commuter whose roof was ripped off in an incident around 12am. By press time, only four of the deceased had been identified.
One of the survivors in Iganga Hospital. (Credit: Ivan Wakibi)
Reports from Iganga and Jinja hospitals, which received injured people, indicate that their condition was critical with several nursing broken limbs.
The deceased include Kibanda Mudasiru and Isaac, both teachers attached to Sure Key Educational Services, an educational consultancy firm.
Others are: Sam Odokonyero, an employee of a Chinese mining industry in Busia, Abadallah Nyiiro, driver of the commuter Taxi, and a resident of Buwenda village in Jinja district, while the four bodies are yet to be identified.
Tonny Kasirye, the facilitator at Sure Key Education Services, said four of the injured are among the eight teachers at the firm who had boarded the taxi for a training in Busia.
He said that the dead and injured teachers were highly trained and had been hired to facilitate various workshops and setting of exams, which is a blow to the company and the education sector.
Kasirye said he was searching for the two other colleagues.
Edirisa Kigenyi, who identified Odokonyero's body, said that the deceased, who is his brother-in-law, was returning to his work station in Busia after a short break in Gulu.
He revealed that the deceased was in touch with their sister as he was travelling, but the communication stopped suddenly before being alerted that he was one of the accident victims.
Abubacker Malinzi, the chairperson of the taxi drivers at the Jinja stage in Ganga municipality, attributed the incident to bad driving, saying that both drivers tried to overtake as they passed a "black spot".
Both vehicles involved in the accident remain at Iganga police station for further investigations.