University students die in crash

Dec 17, 2010

TWO students of Makerere University Business School (MUBS) were among six people killed after their car crashed into a stationary truck on Old Port Bell Road in Kampala.

By Eddie Ssejoba and Herbert Ssempogo
        
TWO students of Makerere University Business School (MUBS) were among six people killed after their car crashed into a stationary truck on Old Port Bell Road in Kampala.

Impreza rammed into the back of a truck belonging to Masons Uganda. The truck, which was carrying cement, had broken down in the middle of the road.

Metal parts at the back of the lorry ripped through the front of the Subaru, killing its six occupants, who included four women.

Hussein Bakkabulindi, a butcher at the Uganda Meat Packers, located near the scene of the carnage, recollected hearing a bang at about 4:00am.

“At first we thought it was a bomb blast. Later, we realised that people had been involved in an accident,” Bakkabulindi said.

The scene, he said, was covered with human blood and flesh.

The victims were Singh Parminder, 24, of Old Kampala; his close friend, Rogers Kaggwa, 27, a businessman and resident of Busega; Pamela Mishaka Kima, 23; Anne Grace Amayo and Sheila Mutonyi, who owned a boutique in Bugolobi. The sixth victim’s name was not available.

Kaggwa died on his way to Mulago Hospital.

Mishaka had completed studies at MUBS, while Anne was a third-year bachelor of business administration student at the same institution.

Parminder had completed a welding and fabrication course at Nakawa Vocational Institute opposite MUBS. Until recently, he was an employee of Spencon, a construction company.

It was unclear where they were going or coming from at the time of the accident, but there were reports that they had been to a nightclub earlier.

Jinja Road Police traffic boss Francis Onen said the truck driver did not put any warning signs for other drivers, yet the vehicle broke down at around 10:00pm.

“The law will definitely take its course,” Onen said.

The crash occurred just three days after the commissioner for traffic and road safety, Basil Mugisha, warned that fatalities often increase during the festive season.

Last year, 22,699 accidents occurred countrywide. Of those, 2,388 (10.5%) were fatal, according to the annual crime report. Kampala had the highest number of accidents. They were 3,524. Out of these, 138 were fatal.



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