Family of seven perishes in train accident
A FAMILY of seven perished in one of most grisly road accidents this year on Sunday. It occurred when a saloon car rammed into a train at a railway crossing on the Tirinyi highway at Butongole near Nawangisa trading centre.
By Patrick Jaramogi
and George Bita
A FAMILY of seven perished in one of the most grisly road accidents this year on Sunday. It occurred when a saloon car rammed into a train at a railway crossing on the Tirinyi highway at Butongole near Nawangisa trading centre.
Family of seven perishes in train accident
A hand-written programme recovered from the car indicated that the travellers were coming from a family function that involved “paying respects to the deceased at 1:00pmâ€.
“I heard a loud bang!†said Kamida Naigaga, whose house is a few metres away from the railway crossing.
“I got to the scene shortly after together with other villagers. Blood, broken glass, matooke and other foodstuffs, a dead chicken and a goat littered the road,†Naigaga narrated.
“Two other vehicles had stopped to allow the locomotive pass but the ill-fated car sped on, ramming into the train. It was dragged about 50 metres away from the road,†she added.
The speeding saloon car, meant to carry four people, had seven occupants. Naigaga said the driver could have feared to be penalised for overloading after citing a Police patrol car nearby.
“He must have feared the Police patrol car. He had seven people and a lot of other commodities in the car.â€
At 10:00pm, another train with a crane arrived to pull the wreckage from underneath the train.
“Policemen and locals extracted five bodies from the wreckage but due to darkness, they abandoned work at midnight, leaving two bodies of an elderly woman and the driver stuck in the car,†Naigaga said
By yesterday afternoon, the Police, helped by the local people, were using axes to cut through the top of the car to get the bodies. Iganga Police chief George Okware identified some of the dead as Frank Mulondo, Sam Ssengonge and Geoffrey Nakhaima.
“Four unidentified bodies are in Iganga Hospital mortuary. These people were heading to Bweyogerere in Kampala although it is difficult to tell where they were coming from.â€
He wondered how a driver could ignore the warning signpost while other motorists had stopped.
“We shall first exhaust our investigations but either way, the driver must have had a problem.â€
Others who died were Mulondo’s four-year-old daughter Esta Mugumya, his sister only identified as Namaalwa and a sister to Mulondo’s wife.
Mulondo worked with Hydery Forex Bureau in Kikuubo, Kampala. He had escorted his wife to Mbale to pay last respects following the death of his in-law. She also perished in the accident. Mulondo’s brother, Emma Walugembe, described the accident as “a big loss to our family.â€
“He had asked me to go along with him but I had some commitments. He then asked his staff-mate and close friend Ssengonge to accompany them. He called up his sister and on their way at Mukono, they picked his wife’s sister,†Walugembe explained.
“A person picked Namalwa’s phone and called all numbers on her phone. That is how we came to know that they had died. Some of the people the stranger called were at a marriage ceremony in Kampala.â€
The mood at all Hydery forex branches - Kikuubo, Ben Kiwanuka Street and Wilson Road - was sombre as staff, close relatives and sympathisers expressed their grief. “We can’t believe that Sam and Frank are dead. God is not fair,†said Sarah, a worker.
and George Bita
A FAMILY of seven perished in one of the most grisly road accidents this year on Sunday. It occurred when a saloon car rammed into a train at a railway crossing on the Tirinyi highway at Butongole near Nawangisa trading centre.
Family of seven perishes in train accident
A hand-written programme recovered from the car indicated that the travellers were coming from a family function that involved “paying respects to the deceased at 1:00pmâ€.
“I heard a loud bang!†said Kamida Naigaga, whose house is a few metres away from the railway crossing.
“I got to the scene shortly after together with other villagers. Blood, broken glass, matooke and other foodstuffs, a dead chicken and a goat littered the road,†Naigaga narrated.
“Two other vehicles had stopped to allow the locomotive pass but the ill-fated car sped on, ramming into the train. It was dragged about 50 metres away from the road,†she added.
The speeding saloon car, meant to carry four people, had seven occupants. Naigaga said the driver could have feared to be penalised for overloading after citing a Police patrol car nearby.
“He must have feared the Police patrol car. He had seven people and a lot of other commodities in the car.â€
At 10:00pm, another train with a crane arrived to pull the wreckage from underneath the train.
“Policemen and locals extracted five bodies from the wreckage but due to darkness, they abandoned work at midnight, leaving two bodies of an elderly woman and the driver stuck in the car,†Naigaga said
By yesterday afternoon, the Police, helped by the local people, were using axes to cut through the top of the car to get the bodies. Iganga Police chief George Okware identified some of the dead as Frank Mulondo, Sam Ssengonge and Geoffrey Nakhaima.
“Four unidentified bodies are in Iganga Hospital mortuary. These people were heading to Bweyogerere in Kampala although it is difficult to tell where they were coming from.â€
He wondered how a driver could ignore the warning signpost while other motorists had stopped.
“We shall first exhaust our investigations but either way, the driver must have had a problem.â€
Others who died were Mulondo’s four-year-old daughter Esta Mugumya, his sister only identified as Namaalwa and a sister to Mulondo’s wife.
Mulondo worked with Hydery Forex Bureau in Kikuubo, Kampala. He had escorted his wife to Mbale to pay last respects following the death of his in-law. She also perished in the accident. Mulondo’s brother, Emma Walugembe, described the accident as “a big loss to our family.â€
“He had asked me to go along with him but I had some commitments. He then asked his staff-mate and close friend Ssengonge to accompany them. He called up his sister and on their way at Mukono, they picked his wife’s sister,†Walugembe explained.
“A person picked Namalwa’s phone and called all numbers on her phone. That is how we came to know that they had died. Some of the people the stranger called were at a marriage ceremony in Kampala.â€
The mood at all Hydery forex branches - Kikuubo, Ben Kiwanuka Street and Wilson Road - was sombre as staff, close relatives and sympathisers expressed their grief. “We can’t believe that Sam and Frank are dead. God is not fair,†said Sarah, a worker.