Rwengo bus accident survivor recalls the horror

By Fred Turyakira

Edson Muvunyi, 33, was among the survivors onboard the ill-fated bus that swerved off a major highway, overturned and burst into flames, killing 14 of its occupants.true

The early Tuesday morning horror occurred around Malongo in Rwengo district, about 96km along Mbarara-Masaka highway.

The Isuzu bus registration number UAM 937D, belonging to Horizon Bus Company, was headed for Kampala from Kisoro district.

Survivors of the gruesome accident were rushed to Lyantonde, Masaka and Mbarara referral hospitals.

Muvunyi, a health worker at Iremera Health Unit in Kisoro, says police fire fighters took long to get to the accident scene.

He was transferred from Lyantonde hospital – where he had been hospitalized with four others – to Mbarara referral hospital.

He vividly remembers the flashy moments of the accident.

 He says …

Just an hour after midnight on Tuesday, I boarded the Kisoro-Kampala bound bus with the other passengers at Total fuel station in Mbarara town.

I was taking papers to Makerere University Business School to be cleared for my graduation due next week.

Then we set out, totally unaware of the fate that lay ahead.

 Everything went on normally until two hours later, at about 3am, when our journey was cut short.

The bus we are traveling on suddenly screeched off the road, it overturned on sharp bend in Malongo in Rwengo district and exploded into flames.

The vehicle was moving at a very high speed by the time of the accident and I suspect the driver – who also perished in the inferno – was sleepy as he failed to negotiate the sharp bend.

I saw about ten passengers spring out of the bus as it overturned.

My legs were stuck between metals of the seats as people ran for dear life but I also later managed to get out of the bus through the Emergency Exit at the back.

 I sustained fractures on my left arm and also injuries on the head.

I was able to rescue a five-year-old despite the numbness in my hand as I witnessed passengers crying helplessly.

I believe more lives would have been saved if the police had arrived at the scene in time to put out the fatal flames.

It took the fire fighters between 30 and 40 minutes to reach the scene of the ugly accident.

Government needs to install several fire extinguishers at police stations so that lives are saved during such accidents.

An ambulance was brought and it was used to take us to Lyantonde hospital before I and four survivors I could not identify were transferred to Mbarara hospital.

Among the survivors were two Congolese nationals – a man and a woman.