ugnet_: 50 Dead: Uganda Bus Crash Carnage -BBC

[Omar Kezimbira]

Last Updated: Monday, 22 September, 2003, 15:07 GMT 16:07 UK E-mail this to a friend Printable version

Uganda bus crash carnage

Almost 50 people have died and another 30 have been injured in a road accident near Uganda's border with Rwanda. The bus was travelling from Burundi and was carrying many Rwandan and Burundian schoolchildren who were returning to study in Uganda. A truck was carrying sacks of maize to Burundi for the UN World Food Programme when it collided with the bus head-on in Kyonyo, just 4km from the Rwanda-Uganda border town of Gatuna. The BBC's Will Ross in Kampala says the impact was so great that the bus was thrown into the air and off the road. The Ugandan police report that 46 people died on the spot, whilst several dozen survivors with serious injuries have been transported to a hospital in the nearby town of Kabale. Schoolchildren Schools are currently reopening and eyewitnesses report that amongst the dead were many Rwandan and Burundian schoolchildren who were heading to Uganda to study. Seventy died in a bus crash in Uganda last year Eyewitnesses describe a horrific scene, with bodies and body parts strewn amongst the bus wreckage. Police said they had not conducted a detailed investigation yet but suspected the accident was caused by speeding. A team of doctors has been flown in from Rwanda to back up the local medical staff at Kabale hospital, he added. In July last year, at least 60 people, including two Indian officers serving with the United Nations in Africa, died in a bus collision in western Uganda with a runaway fuel truck that burst into flames. E-mail this to a friend Printable version

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