Bypass death toll rises to 33

The death toll from Saturday night’s fire which broke out following an accident involving a fuel tanker and another car at Namungoona on the Northern Bypass in Kampala had reached 33 by press time on Sunday.

According to the police, the accident happened after a Toyota Noah car rammed into a moving fuel tanker at about 9.30pm, resulting into a spillage of fuel on the road and down into a nearby papyrus swamp.

Minutes later, the place had been swarmed by boda boda cyclists, passersby and local area residents armed with jerrycans, saucepans and other equipment to scoop the fuel. The scramble would, however, not last long as a fire suddenly erupted, trapping tens in the swamp and burning some of them beyond recognition.

Also burnt were the two cars involved in the accident and a second trailer which was behind the Noah station wagon. The police reported 29 people had died at the scene although the Daily Monitor established that four more people died at Mulago hospital, bringing the total to 33.

By press time, 19 of the dead had been identified while more than 25 people remained hospitalised at Mulago, nursing injuries and burns.

The pregnant woman
Whereas the police are still investigating the exact cause of the fire, a statement issued yesterday by the Kampala Metropolitan police chief, Mr Andrew Kaweesi, indicated that heat generated from the truck’s tyres could have caused the fire after coming into contact with petrol-filled vapour.

When the Daily Monitor journalists arrived at the accident scene minutes after the blast, the air was smoke-filled, punctuated with a strong petrol smell.

The police were battling to put out flames which had consumed the tanker and also managed to stem fire from entirely burning the second trailer.

Charred bodies were floating in the just-cleared Lubigi wetland and the police had to enlist the help of iron-willed onlookers, some with the aid of camera flashlights and phone screen lights, to retrieve the bodies using their bare hands.

A teary-eyed policeman, overwhelmed by the sight of the dead, could not hold back his disappointment.

“I tried to warn these people against this but they protested, now look at what has happened. I told them to run for safety but because they were excited, they refused. Now, none of them is alive.”

As the police and helpers lay out the bodies besides the road, one particular one stood out. It was the body of a woman perhaps in her forties. She was visibly pregnant. The inferno had claimed her and her unborn baby.

Eyewitnesses say she operated a maize-roasting business at Namungoona Round-about—and like many others—after hearing the news of the spillage, had “abandoned” her business, grabbed a basin and dashed to share in the spoils. She would never return to her maize-roasting stall.

President Museveni, who is on a visit to Tanzania, on Saturday night said he was following the events “closely”.

Museveni mourns
“Dear Ugandans, I have learnt with great shock of the tragedy in which vehicles have been burnt by a fuel tanker at Namungoona causing loss of lives. Am closely monitoring efforts of the Police and health workers at the scene,” he said in a message posted on Facebook by his media team.

Kampala police chief Kaweesi, who visited the scene yesterday morning, described the incident as a national tragedy before announcing that the police had established centres at Mulago hospital mortuary and at the Casuality Police Post to handle issues related to identification of the injured and the dead with the help of the relatives.

The Daily Monitor has also learnt that the drivers of the burnt vehicles escaped unhurt and were helping police with investigations.

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