31 Die In Iganga Taxi Crash Fire

By Moses Nampala, Solomon Muyita and James Odong THIRTY-one people were yesterday burnt to death after a tanker from which they were scooping fuel caught fire in Busesa near Iganga town. The tanker had earlier overturned after it failed to overtake a TATA lorry number UAY 626 belonging to Tororo Cement Industries. The Police said the tanker, KAK 631F, pulling a trailer ZB 721S, apparently lost control in a bid to avoid a pothole and went belly up in the middle of the busy Iganga- Tororo highway at 1:30pm. Unconfirmed reports put the death toll at 40. Police Spokesman Asuman Mugenyi said 79 people were admitted in Bugiri and Iganga hospitals in critical condition. He said the death toll was likely to rise. Echoes of wailing survivors and relatives filled the air. After the trailer crashed, residents rushed to the scene to scramble for fuel and in the process a huge conflagration broke out. Soon after an Idudi-bound commuter taxi UBB 342 arrived at the scene, lost its way in the thick cloud of smoke and rammed into the burning trailer. The fourteen seater taxi was loaded to capacity, the Police said. Minutes after, an empty Tororo-bound fuel tanker, 223J/ZB 8310, also barrelled into the burning wreckage after ignoring warnings from witnesses to stop. It also caught fire and was burnt to ash. The fate of its three occupants was not known. Mugenyi said 45 people were admitted in Bugiri Hospital and 34 in Iganga. Six victims died enroute to Bugiri Hospital and four on arrival at Iganga. A resident, Alimansi Kamwezi, said he lost his wife, three children and a brother to the fire. “This is too much for me. I don’t think I will also live for long,” a shocked Kamwezi said in a trembling voice. An unidentified pregnant woman was also killed together with two two-year-olds suspected to have been her children. Jinja Fire Brigade arrived one hour later but run out of fuel before the fire was put out. Traffic ground to a halt till late in the evening with a long line of vehicles stretching for about half a kilometre on either side. Hundreds of grieving relatives thronged the two hospitals. Ends