Around 20 people were left seriously injured on wednesday morning after two passenger buses collided head-on along the Ntungamo-Kabale Road in Ntungamo District, authorities have said.
The accident which occured at around 5am at Katinda Bridge, about 12 Km from Ntungamo Town involved an oncoming Trinity company bus from Kigali to Kampala and a Volcano company bus heading to Kigali from Kampala.
Both buses that were involved in the early morning accident are of Kigala-based transport companies.
Daniel Mawanda, a survivor who was in the Trinity bus said that he observed the unfortunate scene where some people lost their legs .
“I was in seat number 40 when the buses collided at once.We fell down and escaped through windows. Another woman lost two legs while the other lost a leg too,” he said.
Police had not yet established the exact number of victims as they reached the accident scene after many people had been rescued by Redcross and good samaritans.
However, an on-scene police officer estimated a number of 20 people to have been involved with no death case
“We had at least 20people taken to hospital according to ambulance systems but the badly injured are 12 We are fortunate no death has been registered so far,” he said at around 10am on Wednesday.
Most of the injured were rushed to Doctor’s Referral Hospital in Rubaare Town while others were taken to Itojo Hospital.
According to Dr Nicholas Karuhanga of Doctor’s Referral Hospital, at least six victims admitted at their facility were responding well to treatment.
“Our ambulance, the ambulance of Redcross and other vehicles brought in the six victims whom we are still treating. Several others were given fast aid and left,” he said.
Eyewitnesses attributed the accident to a misty road which potentially blurred both drivers.
The Ntungamo district police traffic and road safety officer Allen Kobusingye blames most of the accidents in the area on negligence and over speeding.
