Driver on the run after bus kills 35 Ugandans

Residents search through the wreckage of the bus that was involved in the accident in South Sudan yesterday. COURTESY PHOTO

What you need to know:

Death toll is likely to rise in the accident that involved mainly Ugandans.

Kampala/Gulu- South Sudan police are still hunting for a driver of a truck involved in a head-on collision with a Kampala-bound bus that left more than 30 people, mainly Ugandans, dead.

According to South Sudan police, the 8am accident happened near Nesitu Township, some 25km on the Juba—Nimule road.
The truck, according to South Sudan police, rammed into Bakulu Bus, registration number UAS073P, on a bridge. The exact number of passengers on board was not readily available by last evening.

By press time, there were still conflicting reports about the exact number of the dead. Whereas South Sudan police spokesperson James Enoka said “no more than 25 people had died”, the secretary of the association that unites Ugandans in Juba, Mr Mubiru Nsubuga, said he had counted 35 bodies by last evening.

Mr Enoka said: “The death toll is no more than 25 people. Majority of those dead are Ugandans. We sympathise with their families. The driver of the trailer that caused the accident is on the run but we are pursuing him.”

But Mr Nsubuga, who was at Juba Hospital, where most of the dead and injured were rushed to, told Daily Monitor yesterday that the death toll had reached 35 and he feared it could go up.

Smell of blood
“The number will obviously go up. Most of the people who were injured badly need blood but the hospital does not have it. The injured are dying because there is no blood to be transfused into them,” Mr Nsubuga said.

Mr Nsubuga later shared with us a list of 20 victims he had managed to identify. Earlier, Dr Xavier Okadi, a surgeon at Juba Teaching Hospital, told reporters in Juba that police brought 20 bodies at about 10am local time and the death toll continued to surge.

“All in all, they (police) brought 56 bodies,” said Dr Okadi, adding that about 15 of the dead were South Sudanese.

He also said the facility was overwhelmed: “We are treating the bodies and we are giving back to the relatives for burial because the mortuary is small.”

Contacted yesterday, deputy police spokesperson Polly Namaye said they were still working with their South Sudanese counterparts to identify the dead.

Asked whether victims could expect help from the government, Mr Ofwono Opondo, its spokesperson, said: “Government has no capacity to help those people immediately, but at later point if need for evacuation arises, government will respond accordingly as it has done before in situation like this.” He added: “Eventually government will intervene but not immediately.”

SOME NAMES OF THE DEAD
1. Pastor Tayimba
2. Margret Nakitto - Mubende
3. Erias Ekombe - Wakiso
4. Sakira Mbatudde - Wakiso
5. Julius Bogere - Jinja
6. Godfrey Tumu
7. Michael Ssegawa - Mpigi
8. Abdallah C. Musta - Yumbe
9 Abdalaman - Yumbe
10.Jalia Nansubuga
11.Robina Namutebi
12. Makumbi B
13. Zura Miti- Kangurumira
14. Ekombe Erias -Wakiso
15. Isa Ninsiime -Lyantonde
16. Arinaitwe Fahim
17. Muzi Ramadan- Mbale
18. Sadiq Muhamed
19. Abdalla Basajja
20. Aisa Basajja -Bombo