Five killed in Kampala-Masaka road accident

By Patrick Jaramogi

An ordinary Sunday afternoon turned dark when five people died on spot and several others survived with injuries in a road accident along Kampala-Masaka highway in Mpigi district.

The horrific accident involved three vehicles; a commuter taxi (Hiace), a trailer and a Toyota Noah car.

The reportedly overloaded commuter taxi was heading to Masaka from Kampala but the journey was cut short about 30 kilometers away at Kammengo in a head-on collision with the trailer registration number KAX574S.

Eyewitnesses said the crash occurred at about 2.30pm local time.

Five of the passengers died immediately and the other 15 escaped with broken limbs. The bodies of the dead were loaded onto a waiting police pick-up vehicle and driven off to Gombe hospital. 

The survivors were rushed to Mulago hospital in Kampala and the wreckage of the taxi, which was reduced to scrap material, was hauled to Kammengo police post.

Unconfirmed reports indicated that four of the survivors died on their way to Mulago hospital back in Kampala.

But deputy police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba said they [police] could only confirm the deaths of the five who were killed on spot.

“According to our officers at the scene, we have got reports that five people have died on spot. We are still gathering more information,” she said earlier.

Moments before the collision, the driver of the Toyota Noah car intentionally swerved off the road to avoid ramming into the trailer which was a few feet in front of him. 

The driver of the Toyota, Nathan Katende, a resident of Lungujja in Kampala, survived with minor arm injuries.

The cause of the accident had not been established by press time but according to the Mpigi district head of traffic, Edson Twebaze, the driver of the commuter taxi was driving recklessly.

To make it worse, the taxi was overladen with 20 passengers yet that kind of vehicle is licensed to carry a maximum 14 passengers.

Sula Mubiru, a boda boda motorist who witnessed the horror, said the “taxi heading to Masaka rammed into a lorry heading to Kampala.”

According to the OC Traffic Inspector, Buwama Twebaze, the taxi was overtaking at a “dangerous spot” when it rammed head-on into the trailer. 

Twabaze said the identities of the dead were yet to be established.

In a related incident along the same highway, a commuter taxi knocked dead a boda boda motorist