Four Bulambuli students killed in Tirinyi accident

PIC: Kibuku traffic officer David Owinyi inspecting the wreckage of Kisoko High school bus that was involved in an accident with Gate way bus from Kotido to Kampala. It was currying 49 students from Buyaka Parents Secondary School in Bulambuli district. Photos by Paul Watala

Four students of Buyaka Secondary School in Bulambuli have died instantly and 30 others and their teacher are admitted in Mbale Hospital with serious injuries after the bus they were traveling in was rammed into by another bus along the Mbale-Iganga highway.

The bus carrying 49 students and four teachers had parked on the road side when another bus belonging to Gate way Bus Company from Kotido district heading to Kampala hit it from behind, throwing it into the swamp at 3:00am at Kotolo in Tirinyi sub-county, Kibuku district.

Police confirmed that two of the four deceased were sisters and were to write their final S.4 examinations in November this year.

 
The students were Senior Four finalists who were heading to Kampala for a study tour ahead of their final exams next month.

Police have identified the dead students as Harriet Kakai, Noor Mutyembu, Daisy Nangira and Rachael Mukoya.

According to the traffic officer in charge of Kibuku, David Owinyi, the Police rushed to the scene and rescued the rest of the students.

 
By the time Police arrived at the scene, three of the students were already dead and were stuck in the wreckage.

Another student was retrieved in critical condition but died on arrival at Mbale Hospital.

Owinyi attributed the accident to speeding and the fog that had covered the area, hampering visibility.

He said the bus carrying students had parked on the road side as students went out to answer nature’s call by the roadside when the accident happened.

“Drivers of both vehicles escaped and are still at large but, we have managed to recover some of their documents at the scene that will help us to trace them,” Owinyi said.