Police probe Link bus fire
The bus which was travelling from Kasese District to Kampala is said to have caught fire at Wakaliga traffic lights in Natete at around 10pm.
Police in Kampala are investigating circumstance under which a bus belonging to Link Bus Services caught fire last evening.
The bus which was travelling from Kasese District to Kampala is said to have caught fire at Wakaliga traffic lights in Natete at around 10pm.
Police said last evening that the exact cause of the fire had not been established, but preliminary investigations pointed to a possible short circuit in one of the headlamps.
“Our fire prevention and rescue services officers responded on time but fortunately, the fire had been extinguished by other first responders using a nearby fire extinguisher, water and sand. It has been established that the bus Reg. No UBD 269A Scania, was travelling from Kasese to Kampala. However, it caught fire at Wakaliga traffic,” Mr Luke Owoyesigyire, the Kampala Metropolitan Police deputy spokesperson said.
According to police, all the passengers and their property were safely evacuated following the incident.
“We did not register any injuries or deaths and neither did the passengers lose any of their items from the bus.The fire prevention and rescue services has however noted that the bus had no fire extinguisher of its own. We advise all passengers and bus operators to have the fire extinguishers in place in case of a fire emergency,” Mr Owoyesigyire added in a statement.
The incident comes just days after Works and Transport minister, Gen Edward Katumba Wamala on May 16 announced lifting of the suspension of Link Bus operations, following the May 4 accident in Fort Portal which claimed more than 20 lives.
While announcing the resumption of operations for Link Bus, Gen Wamala said despite all the road safety measures, including regulations, the country is not making any strides on reducing accidents, which claim 3,650 Ugandans annually.
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He said the Link Bus accident forced them to ground its operations so that the bus company is given ample time to establish the causes of the rampant accidents and come up with a report to be tabled before Parliament.
He revealed that their investigations established poor driver judgment, rather than the road, motor vehicle and weather conditions as the cause of the accident as the bus was new, the driver was experienced and he knew the configuration of the road.
Mr Solomon Nsimire, the Chief Executive Officer of Link Bus, said following the accident, they were asked to submit full list of their drivers for verification, take all their buses for road worthiness tests as well as provide measures they will deploy to avert similar accidents in future.
