68 escape death in ugly Mbarara Jaguar bus accident

By Abdulkarim Ssengendo

About 68 passengers survived death Friday afternoon when a Jaguar bus they were traveling in overturned in a valley on Mbarara-Kabale road, a few kilometers after Nyihanga trading center.

The South Western Regional Police Commander, Paul Nkore said 27 people were seriously injured and were a little later rushed to Mbarara Regional referral Hospital. Three of the injured were in critical condition.

Nkore told New Vision online that the Jaguar bus Reg. No. UAG 108T was coming from Kabale at a break-neck speed and attempted to overtake a trailer that was wrongly packed along the roadside.

So the blame shifts to both the bus driver for over-speeding and the trailer driver for bad packing.

"All the drivers of the bus and trailer are to blame for this accident, because the trailer driver didn't put a mark to show that his vehicle had got a mechanical problem and also bus driver should have reduced the speed," Nkore said.

He cautioned drivers to stop over-speeding and advised them to follow traffic laws, a measure he said would reduce road accidents.

He also advised them to have warning signs they can put on the road in case their vehicles get mechanical problems along the way.