City accident: 7 dead, 14 in critical condition

Kampala.

Seven people died and 14 others were seriously injured following a head-on collision between two motor vehicles at Wakaliga, Kampala District, on Mengo-Nateete road, the police said yesterday.
By press time, the police had not identified the deceased.
The injured were also still in casualty wards of Mulago and Rubaga hospitals.
Witnesses said a truck carrying coffee to Masaka District from Mengo failed to brake and crashed into a commuter taxi with passengers travelling to Kampala.
They said in a desperate attempt to save lives, the truck driver swerved back on his lane knocking dead a boda boda cyclist who was carrying a passenger with a child.

The truck lost momentum after hitting a pick-up truck.
Mr Patrick Onyango, the police deputy spokesperson, confirmed that the accident had claimed seven people. “A fuso lorry was coming from Mengo (Kampala) and it is suspected to have encountered a mechanical fault which we believe led to brakes failure. It then knocked the taxi from Nateete and later on a motorcyclist who was overtaking,” Mr Onyango said.
Wakaliga has been a dark spot where many heavy trucks have killed several people.

The accident follows others that have left a number of people dead in less than a month in the country.
Last week, four people died in an accident involving a Bank of Uganda bullion van and a truck at Lukomera village on the same road.
Last month, the police in Luweero District retrieved four bodies from wreckage after two motor vehicles were involved in an accident at Kakinzi village on the Kampala- Gulu Highway.

Two other people travelling in a salon car died in another accident in Kyambogo near Kampala when their car rammed into a bus last week.
Road and traffic safety statistics showed a decline in death on the road from 3,343 people in 2011 to 3,124 last year according to the annual police crime report.
They also show a decline in death on the roads from 3,343 people in 2011 to 3,124 last year.