Grisly Kamwokya accident claims three lives, 20 injured

By Simeon Masaba

Three people died instantly after a speeding mini-bus rammed into a pick-up truck that was supplying retail merchandise along a road in Kamwokya, a Kampala suburb.

Robert Walugembe, the Kiira divisional Police commander, said the tragedy occurred at about 10:00am Monday.

He said the mini-bus lost control and hit the pick-up truck that was parked at the road side. The bus pushed the truck off the road, crushing onto shops and killing three. Scores were left injured.

“The driver tried to brake in vain. He resorted to shouting at the pedestrians to move off the road,” Walugembe said.

He identified one of the dead people only as Richard, a real estate broker. The other two people had not yet been identified as they did not have identification papers on them.

The mini-bus was towed to Kiira Police Station.

Residents said the bus had come to pick mourners who were heading to Kisoro for a burial.

By press time, injured victims at Mulago Hospital had not been identified.

A six-year-old girl was stranded at the scene as her unconscious step-mother, Damalie Namuli and 19 others still remain admitted at Mulago Hospital.

Susan Muhereza, a shop keeper, said: “I carried the child and threw her in my shop like a sack of beans and later rushed her to the clinic for first aid.”