HEAD-ON: Truck crashes into taxi, 14 dead!

Masaka, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  Fourteen people, including the driver of a commuter taxi, were killed in a head-on collision with a sand-laden truck at Kamuwunga Trading Centre along the Lwera swamp stretch on the Masaka-Kampala Highway in Kalungu District. The fatal crash occurred at about 11:40 p.m. on Monday, according to police.

Police identified the taxi as a white Toyota Hiace registration number UA 662AQ, driven by Ssembatya Abdul Karim, a resident of Masaka City, who died at the scene. The second vehicle involved was a red Sino truck, registration number UBS 040F, whose driver fled the scene and remains on the run.

According to the preliminary police findings, the taxi was travelling from Kampala towards Masaka when it collided head-on with the oncoming truck. Police allege that the truck driver, who was transporting sand, attempted to dodge road humps installed on his lane due to ongoing road construction. In the process, he reportedly swerved onto the opposite lane and crashed into the taxi, which was travelling on its correct side of the road.

The impact caused both vehicles to lock together, and the heavily loaded truck pushed the taxi backwards for about 30 metres from the point of impact. The deceased passengers have been identified as Alice Gracious Alobo, 30, a resident of Opit Town Council in Omoro District; Kizza Moses, 30, of Kyetume in Kyotera District; Joanita Natondwa, 23, of Masaka City; Aidah Namajja, 52, of Masaka City; Lawrence Ssebuuma, 34, of Mabaale-Kifuufu in Kyotera District; Margaret Nabbosa, 36, of Zirobwe Town Council in Luwero District; Veronica Nabbulime; Nabbulime’s juvenile daughter; Kizza Moses, 27; Innocent Irora, 39, a resident of Kyegegwa Town Council and an employee of Coca-Cola Namanve; Police Sergeant Nabukeya, service number 44616, whose duty station had not yet been established; and two unidentified male adults.

Four people survived the crash. They include Edward Kaiga, 22, who was travelling in the Sino truck, two unidentified male occupants of the taxi, and another unidentified male who was aboard the truck. The injured were rushed to Masaka Regional Referral Hospital by a Red Cross ambulance, while the bodies of the deceased were taken to the hospital mortuary.

Traffic officers from Masaka East, the Kalungu District Police Commander and other police personnel visited the scene, documented evidence and towed both vehicles to the Lukaya Police Yard pending inspection by the Inspector of Vehicles. Police have opened investigations and launched a manhunt for the truck driver, who remains at large. The suspected cause of the crash is reckless driving by the driver of the Sino truck, police said.