Six people have been confirmed dead and scores injured following a head-on collision involving two buses along Ntungamo-Kabale Highway on Friday morning.
The accident occurred at Hakabira on top of Rwahi hill in Rwahi town council in Ntumgamo District.
According to eyewitnesses, the accident occurred at around 04.00 PM when the driver of the Volcano Bus Reg. No. RAD 798B destined for Kigali-Rwanda from Kampala changed lanes and crashed into Oxygen bus Reg. No. KCU 054L destined for Kenya’s capital, Nairobi from Kigali.
The Kigezi regional police commander SSP Ibrahim Saiga said that the critically injured were taken to Kabale regional referral hospital while others were taken to different health units in Rukiga and Ntungamo districts.
“Our officers are still compiling the details of both the dead and the injured. Among the dead are both the drivers of the ill-fated vehicles. We shall share details with you later,” he said.
ASP Faridah Nampima, the Traffic Police Spokesperson said Murara Alphonse, a Rwandan driver of volcano bus, and Omido David, a Kenyan and the driver of the Oxygen bus both died on spot.
Others who died include; Ishingiro Mustafa, a Rwandan; the conductor of Oxygen bus identified as Gakulu Cloude; a Rwandan and the conductor of Volcano bus, Hakizimana Etiene; a Rwandan passenger aboard Vocano bus, and a yet-to-be-identified Burundian female passenger who was aboard Oxygen bus.
“An approximate number of 40 passengers whose particulars are yet to be established were rushed to Lotom Health Centre in Muhanga and are under proper management,” she said in a statement released on Friday.
“The accident has been attributed to reckless driving by the driver of Volcano bus, who, eyewitnesses say was from Kampala side but left his side and was driving from the right where he met an on-coming Oxygen bus from Kabale side whose driver tried to swerve to his extreme left in order to dodge the Volcano bus in vain thus head-on collision,” she added.
The bodies of the deceased have all been conveyed to Kabale Regional Referral Hospital Mortuary for postmortem.
