SOROTI, UGANDA: Police in Soroti has confirmed that at least five people have died and seven others nursing critical injuries at Soroti regional referral hospital after a Fuso truck transporting cattle from Kotido District crashed along the Soroti –Mbale highway.
The accident happened at around 9:30 pm yesterday night (Wednesday) when the truck with 18 people on board veered off the main road and plunged into Awoja swamp.
According to reports, at around 10:30 pm, Police had managed to recover 5 bodies of the victims, and those with critical injuries were evacuated and admitted to Soroti hospital while at least 10 carcasses of cattle remained to lie in the water at the time.
One of the survivors who identified himself as Kizza attributed the road crash to reckless driving from the driver as the truck was overspeeding at the time of the accident.
“I kept pleading with our driver not to over speed because the truck we were using is old but he never took heed,” Mr Kizza who was seated in the co-drivers seat at the time of the crash told this reporter.
Mr Kizza explained that five of his fellow cattle traders aboard the truck who were heading to Kibuku and Butembo districts to sell the animals died on the spot.
Another survivor, Waiswa Kulia said: “I don’t know how we are going to break this sad news to the families of these young colleagues who have died.”
East Kyoga police spokesperson, Mr Oscar Ageca confirmed this report and attributed the cause of the accident to possible reckless driving.
“We managed to reach the scene on time, and rescued those injured who are now being attended to by the medical workers at Soroti regional referral hospital,” he said.
Mr Ageca added preliminary investigations into the cause of the accident point at possible over speeding at a sharp corner which forced the truck off the road before it overturned.
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