Cement truck kills 2, injures 2

By John Thawite

Two people died and two others were critically injured when a cement-loaded truck crashed into them in Kasese Municipality Friday morning.

The 7.00 a.m accident occurred opposite the Kasese Airfield, just a few metres from a traffic police check point.

The truck, registration number UAQ 662T/UAQ340C, crashed the victims’ heads scattering the brains on the tarmac as it rammed into several nearby trees.

A traffic police officer at the accident scene, Michael Ouno, said the injured were rushed to Kilembe Hospital but could not immediately identify them or the dead.

Ouno said the driver immediately fled after the accident.

Ouno said one of his officers had stopped a bus when the trailer approached from the Kabarole direction.

“We let him pass to avoid causing double parking only to see the truck veering across the road and ramming into a nearby bush,” Ouno said.

Sources that had earlier seen the truck near the Kigoro Police post, said they had noticed the driver bent at the steering wheel, seemingly sleeping.

Sheikh gerbil Mayanja, in whose land the truck ended up, said he heard been woken up by a loud bang from the crashing truck at around 7.00 a.m.

The incident immediately attracted a huge crowd of horrified people who jammed the scene, paralysing traffic along the Kasese-Kabarole highway. Police later rushed the dead to Kasese Municipality mortuary for post-mortem.

Some of the residents said the victims were among the dozens of peasants who usually use the road on their way to their gardens in the areas of Kihara, Kyondo, Kanyangeya, and Mubuku Irrigation scheme.