30 killed in Kabale bus
Jun 07, 2005
THIRTY passengers were killed when a bus collided with a Fuso truck early yesterday at Nyakarindi on the Kabale-Katuna road.<br>A man whose arms were cut off in the crash bled profusely, while another lost a leg in the 10:30am accident about 18km outside Kabale town.
By Lauben Matsiko, Caleb Bahikaho and Raymond Baguma
THIRTY passengers were killed when a bus collided with a Fuso truck early yesterday at Nyakarindi on the Kabale-Katuna road.
A man whose arms were cut off in the crash bled profusely, while another lost a leg in the 10:30am accident about 18km outside Kabale town.
The Kampala-bound bus was travelling from Kigali. Three of 20 passengers who were rushed to Kabale regional referral hospital in critical condition, died on arrival.
Kabale district police commander Martin Amoru said there were 54 passengers aboard the ill-fated bus that carried Kenyans, Rwandans and Ugandans.
“We have not established the identities of the victims. We suspect the bus driver was speeding and a tyre burst,†Amoru said. The bus registration number UAE 804Y belonged to Regional Bus Company while the Fuso truck registration number UAS 985N was carrying merchandise that included cooking oil and was heading to Nyakarindi in Kabale district.
The bus’ top was ripped off while the passenger cabin of the Fuso, from which the Police removed two mangled bodies, was crushed beyond recognition.
Gloved policemen and sympathisers loaded bodies onto Fuso trucks and Uganda government-registered pick-up trucks. The 30 bodies recovered from the scene were taken to Kabale hospital mortuary.
“I saw the bus on the right lane before the crash as if the driver thought he was still in Rwanda,†an elderly eyewitness, Enock Turyamureeba, said.
There was a hold up of mid-morning traffic on the blood-stained highway.
A medical and police rescue team from Rwanda arrived at the accident scene by road and in a helicopter.
The Rwandan-registered helicopter kept hovering over the scene waiting to transport survivors to hospital.
Amoru said arrangements were being made to airlift seven of the survivors from Kabale, to a hospital in Kigali.
The accident is the second in two years on the same highway. In 2003, at a place called Kyonyo, about three kilometres from yesterday’s accident, a Kigali-bound Jaguar Bus collided with a trailer, killing 64 passengers on spot.
THIRTY passengers were killed when a bus collided with a Fuso truck early yesterday at Nyakarindi on the Kabale-Katuna road.
A man whose arms were cut off in the crash bled profusely, while another lost a leg in the 10:30am accident about 18km outside Kabale town.
The Kampala-bound bus was travelling from Kigali. Three of 20 passengers who were rushed to Kabale regional referral hospital in critical condition, died on arrival.
Kabale district police commander Martin Amoru said there were 54 passengers aboard the ill-fated bus that carried Kenyans, Rwandans and Ugandans.
“We have not established the identities of the victims. We suspect the bus driver was speeding and a tyre burst,†Amoru said. The bus registration number UAE 804Y belonged to Regional Bus Company while the Fuso truck registration number UAS 985N was carrying merchandise that included cooking oil and was heading to Nyakarindi in Kabale district.
The bus’ top was ripped off while the passenger cabin of the Fuso, from which the Police removed two mangled bodies, was crushed beyond recognition.
Gloved policemen and sympathisers loaded bodies onto Fuso trucks and Uganda government-registered pick-up trucks. The 30 bodies recovered from the scene were taken to Kabale hospital mortuary.
“I saw the bus on the right lane before the crash as if the driver thought he was still in Rwanda,†an elderly eyewitness, Enock Turyamureeba, said.
There was a hold up of mid-morning traffic on the blood-stained highway.
A medical and police rescue team from Rwanda arrived at the accident scene by road and in a helicopter.
The Rwandan-registered helicopter kept hovering over the scene waiting to transport survivors to hospital.
Amoru said arrangements were being made to airlift seven of the survivors from Kabale, to a hospital in Kigali.
The accident is the second in two years on the same highway. In 2003, at a place called Kyonyo, about three kilometres from yesterday’s accident, a Kigali-bound Jaguar Bus collided with a trailer, killing 64 passengers on spot.