One dead, six injured in Fort Portal fire explosion

People gathered at the scene where a fire broke out in Kisenyi cell in South Division of Fort Portal municipality in Kabarole District on May 6, 2019. COURTESY PHOTO

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Authorities say it took the intervention of the army to contain the crowd

One person is said to have died, six others injured and property worth millions of shillings destroyed in a fire explosion in Kisenyi cell in South Division of Fort Portal municipality in Kabarole District.
The incident occurred at around 9pm on Monday along Kasaija Road in Fort portal town.
Eye witnesses said the fire started from a Fuso truck registration number UAW 038N that was carrying plastic drums with fuel.
The vehicle reportedly went up in flames minutes after the fuel started leaking.

One of the eye witnesses, who only identified himself as John, said he tried to intervene as some people were busy trying to tap the leaking fuel.
He said as a result, fire continued to ravage the ill-fated truck and spread to other vehicles parked besides the truck.
The Kabarole Deputy Resident District Commissioner, Mr Festus Bandeba, said authorities found a body near a burnt Bajaj Boxer motorcycle.
He however, said they were yet to establish whether the deceased was the one on the motorcycle or not.


Mr Bandeba added that the fire also destroyed several houses along the road, electric wires and merchandise in the nearby shops.
“We linked up with the UPDF which came and reinforced police and managed to contain the crowd. Some of them of course could have had ill motives of breaking into the shops. We tried as much as possible to contain the crowd that was already surging,” he said before adding that investigations into the fire continue.

Police on Tuesday morning identified the deceased as Mwesigye Kiyaye, 37, and said six other people had been injured in the fire.

“One person died on spot and six others were injured last evening when fire broke out in Fort Portal town. One car belonging to Arinaitwe Raymond was burnt, a motorcycle, three shops were destroyed completely. Mwesigye Kiyaye, 37, died on spot. We want to commend our fire brigade team from Kabarole that did a tremendous job,” police tweeted.
According to Kabarole District Police Commander SP Jamal Kanyesigye, the truck was carrying fuel from Katoke to Kyenjonjo District when it caught fire.
“Investigation into the cause of the fire outbreak is ongoing,” he said.