Bus knocks village chairman, set ablaze

ACCIDENT

Angry residents of Yivu village in Arivu sub-county Arua district on Thursday night set ablaze a bus, registration number UAU 549P after the bus knocked dead an LC1 vice-chairperson of the village.

The deceased identified as Expedito Bileni, the LC 1 vice-chairperson of Yivu village was trying to stop the bus to signal an accident ahead, but the driver continued and knocked him before knocking the rear body of the trailer that blocked the road. 

Speaking to New Vision, Vicky Onzima, the LC2 chairperson of the area said, it was around 9:30pm when he returned from Arivu to his home only to hear noise and alarm made by the local residents.

According to Onzima, when he reached the scene of accident, he saw passengers being removed from the bus before it was set ablaze.

Before the KKT bus, a trailer with registration number UAT 181 Z had overturned and blocked the road. The trailer was carrying charcoal belonging to a woman who declined to speak to the media. The trailer was reportedly from Koboko heading to Tororo district.

John Malianmungu, the turn man of the trailer told New Vision, the system of the vehicle failed to work at the sloppy area after passing Enzeva and it overturned at a conner a few metres away towards Alaa River.

According to Maliamungu, the trailer was carrying about 300 bags of charcoal and lost control half a kilometre from Enzeva, a sloppy area before overturning. Three people were reportedly aboard the trailer, the driver, the turn man and the business woman.

He said by the time the bus arrived, it found them near the trailer and knocked the LC1 chairman before going off-road.

The LC2 chairman Onzima said by the time he stepped aside to call the Police, the locals had ordered all the passengers to move out of the bus and had set it ablaze. In the process the locals beat up the turn man, conductor, driver and the inspector.

Some of the people recued their luggage, while other people failed to remove their property and they got burnt in the bus. 

According to Bileni, the body of the vice-chairman was lying near the bus and was also burnt. "When I called the Police, they arrived after 30 minutes," he says.

The Police and army were immediately deployed at the scene of accident to deter the locals from looting charcoal.

Enzeva Primary School on Friday did not open because of fear. All the locals in Yivu village abandoned their homes after the army searched their homes to identify properties looted.

Some of the stolen charcoal were found hidden in the bush. The chairman called for immediate dialogue with the security officials concerning security issues. 

Francis Onen, the OC traffic Arua Central Police Station, said the first accident occurred involving a Mercedes benze trailer carrying charcoal. He said, the body of the trailer got off the head and blocked the road.

The locals converged at the scene and when KKT bus approached the scene, the deceased tried to stop the bus, but he was knocked dead in the process.

According to Onen, two male adults and one female adult were injured and were taken to Arua regional referral hospital for treatment. The traffic officer warned the locals to desist from taking law into their hands and take responsibility for road safety.

He advised the locals to help victims of accident other than looting properties.

Joseph Pombel Olum, the station manager KKT Bus Company Arua told New vision the burnt bus was from Koboko and left at 8:00pm and picked more passengers from Arua.

"At 9:43pm on Thursday night, I got a call from the turn man that I should rush to the accident scene. I called the OC traffic Arua and we got reinforcement to proceed to the scene" Olum said.

Olum said when he reached the scene, he found the bus on fire and one body was also burning next to the bus. Those passengers whose journey was affected were on Friday morning transferred to another bus.

Josephine Angucia, the police spokesperson for West Nile region said three people have been arrested in connection to the arson.