Taxi accident at Subway restaurant: 14 injured

By Henry Sekanjako

An omni-bus taxi on Sunday rammed into the wall of the Subway restaurant along Nile Avenue in Kampala, injuring all its occupants— fourteen passengers and the driver.

The accident occurred around 2.30pm when the driver of taxi of registration number UAL 536Z lost control of the vehicle. It is reported he was overspeeding.

“The driver failed to break and ran into the wall. Nile Avenue is clear so drivers tend to drive at a very high speed which makes them fail to break and end up into the restaurant wall,” said Badru Mweyango, a traffic officer at the scene of the accident.

Mweyango said all the people on board sustained severe injuries, but nobody died. He however maintained the situation of the accident victims remains ‘worrying’.

He noted that the injured were rushed to Mulago hospital in critical condition for treatment. The identities of the accident victims had not been established by press time.

All the passengers of the ill-fated taxi escaped, but with severe injuries in an accident that took place at a point labelled as a blackspot by eyewitnesses. PHOTO by Abou Kisige

According to eye witnesses, the taxi, which was full of passengers, was on its way to Namugongo from the old taxi park.

“I was seated across the road when I heard a bang in the Subway restaurant. On standing, I saw a taxi fallen inside the restaurant with its head pointed down,” one of the eye witness remembered.

Eye witnesses said passengers who were sitting in the front of the car sustained deep cuts on the heads while several others scrambled through with broken legs and other body injuries.

The taxi was severely damaged and its windscreens were destroyed. The wreckage of the taxi was towed away by police van.The Subway restaurant roundabout has become a black spot where at least one serious accident occurs on average per week.

Just a week before the taxi accident, an Indian died on spot when he was knocked by an over speeding vehicle at the same roundabout.

A Namugongo bound taxi Reg. No UAL 536Z which rammed into the wall of Sub Way restaurant being pulled by Police on March 25, 2012. All the passegers survived with broken limbs and were rushed to Mulago hospital in critical condition. By Abou Kisige