Traffic police in Bugiri district say 10 people, including 8 passengers of a commuter taxi, its driver, and the trailer tanker driver died on the spot in a road crash along the Iganga-Tororo highway.
Micheal Kananura, the Traffic Police Directorate spokesperson says the fatal crash that happened on Monday evening at about 07:50 pm, involved ten vehicles at Kibimbi after the bridge along the Iganga-Tororo highway in Bugiri District.
He says findings indicates that, “the ten motor vehicles were all moving in the same direction towards Tororo, except for one vehicle, registration number KAE 254c/ZA 5971, a tanker loaded with molasses, which was traveling in the opposite direction towards Iganga”
“A vehicle registration number UAW 963m, a Toyota HiAce, attempted to overtake a queue of vehicles mentioned above. The driver noticed an oncoming vehicle while still overtaking and swerved to the left to yield, unaware that the oncoming vehicle was a trailer tanker loaded with molasses and pulling another trailer,” he added.
The rear part of the trailer collided with the commuter taxi, crashing it against another trailer registration number KBJ 155c/ZD 2621, a Mercedes Benz prompting the trailer tanker driver to lose control before the truck caught fire.
Bodies of the deceased have been moved to Bugiri hospital mortuary for post-mortem examination.
The incident paralyzed traffic, prompting authorities to divert transnational trailers and other vehicles using the Eastern corridor to the Musita-Lumino road, facilitating connectivity to the Jinja-Kampala highway.
