KIKUUBE, UGANDA: At least 40 people have survived death after a bus in which they were travelling collided with a sugarcane truck at Mairirwe trading centre in Bugambe sub-county, Kikuube District on Hoima-Fort Portal Road on Wednesday afternoon.
The accident which occurred at around midday involved a Link Bus UBJ 725Z and a Tata lorry attached to Hoima Sugar Limited Reg No UBG 467M.
Robert Tumusiime an eyewitness at the accident scene says the Lorry driver refused to give way to the Link bus which was coming from Hoima City heading to Kasese on Hoima-Fort Portal Road hence leading to a collision due to a high speed on which both vehicles were moving.
“The link bus was coming from Hoima city while the Tata lorry was coming from Bugambe sub-county and they both met at Mairirwe junction but due to high speed the Lorry driver could not insert breaks to give way for the bus since it was on a high way hence leading to a collision,” he said.
On the fortunate side, no one was injured in the crash although the lorry driver had tried to escape but was intercepted by the traffic police in Kikuube town council and is being held up to help with investigations into the incident.
Peter Banura the Kikuube District LC5 Chairperson who visited the scene accused the Sugarcane companies of failing to make thorough screening of their drivers to determine their professionalism and also denying them refresher training so as to keep them updated.
“As district leaders, our tireless efforts in advising these sugar companies on road safety have been let down because some of these drivers are drug addicts, some lack qualifications among other challenges but now we have resorted to involving traffic police to always visit these companies make thorough investigations on these drivers so as to curb the vice.
At the time of this report, traffic police were yet to release a statement about the matter.
Wednesday’s accident occurred in a period of fewer than 2 weeks after 3 people on a Boda boda were knocked down by an overspeeding Sugarcane truck in Kabango Sub-county Masindi District which resulted in the death of a woman and child leaving the cyclist with severe injuries.
In the same period, another Man in Munteme Parish Kiziranfumbi sub-county Kikuube District was also knocked to death by an overspeeding Sugar cane truck.
Last year, 25 people perished in a fatal accident involving a link bus at Sebitoli along the Fort Portal- Kampala highway.
In February this year, 23 passengers were injured in a link bus accident that occurred at Gwanika in Nabingoola sub-county in Mubende District along the same highway.
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