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Rwandan Maj. Gen. loses family members
KYONJO � A ghastly sight and acrid smell of death hung in the air of this small trading centre for most of yesterday after a bus rammed head-on into a trailer, killing at least 47 people.
The Monitor learnt last night that a senior officer in the Rwanda Patriotic Army, Maj. Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, lost members of his immediate family in the accident.
�Yes it is true,� a sombre Nyamwasa told The Monitor on phone last night.
The Jaguar bus, Reg. No. UAE 046L, rammed into a World Food Programme trailer, Reg. No. 381 UED/511 UCQ at around 10 a.m. in this small trading centre about 4km from the Rwanda-Uganda border at Katuna and 18km from Kabale town.
Some 45 people died on the spot while 33 others were rushed to the Kabale referral hospital in critical conditions.
Police spokesman, Mr Assuman Mugyenyi told The Monitor on the phone last night that the death toll had climbed to 47.
�Most of the dead are Rwandese nationals although we have not yet properly identified all the bodies,� he said.
The coach was from Kanyaru, a town on the Burundi-Rwanda border. Its destination was Kampala. The trailer was heading to Burundi, carrying World Food Programme maize.
It belonged to Mr Apollo Nangamale a businessman in Kabale.
The bus driver, Mr Kabagambe Owesigire, and that of the trailer, Mr Moses Kayanja, died on the spot.
A local woman, Ms Medias Kabacenga, was crushed dead on her veranda when the two huge vehicles lost control.
The Kabale District Police Commander, Mr Martin Amoru, told The Monitor at the scene yesterday that the dead included 24 men, 15 women and five juveniles.
It was a cruel twist of fate for two of the victims of the crash, a 20-year-old man only identified as Simpson, and a 2-year-old baby.
The two lived in Kyonjo trading centre but travelled four kilometres backward to Katuna border in the morning and got onto the fateful bus. Their tragic journey ended where it began � home.
Eyewitness account
An eyewitness told The Monitor that the trailer driver was to blame.
�The accident was caused by a speeding trailer that tried to overtake a small car in a sharp corner where it collided with the speeding bus,� said Mzee Godfrey Tirwakunda, a local resident who witnessed the accident from a few metres.
But others blamed the bus driver.
�It was absolutely the fault of the bus driver. He tried to overtake another vehicle where overtaking is forbidden. The opposite traffic, a Mercedes truck, did not have any chance to escape. His body was cut into two pieces... The bus? was very fast,� photographer Franz Etges said in an e-mail report to The Monitor.
Rwanda sends chopper
The Rwandan government sent a team of doctors aboard an army chopper to Kabale hospital to try to save the lives of its nationals involved in the crash.
Mugyenyi said last night that 22 Rwandan nationals were airlifted to Kigali for treatment aboard the choppers.
A spokesman for Rwanda�s National Police said that the injured were being treated at King Faycal Hospital in Kigali.
"They (Rwandans) are here with our team trying their best to save lives, but the situation is still tense," said the Kabale Hospital Medical Superintendent, Dr Sam Tumwesigire.
Police had to deploy its Mobile Patrol Unit to keep order at Kabale hospital as several Rwandan nationals came to claim their dead and injured.
However, Mugyenyi told The Monitor that the Rwandan police and army had been very helpful at the scene of the accident and that there was no looting.
The police spokesman said that more than Shs 2 million, U$2890, 27,900 Rwandan francs and 148,200 Burundi francs in cash was recovered at the scene.
Meanwhile, several people flocked to the offices of Jaguar Coaches Limited � who operated the bus � on Nabugabo Road in Kampala to find out the fate of their friends and relatives.
Many kept making frantic phone calls and anxiously pacing up and down as news trickled in from Kabale.
The company�s operations manager, Mr William Muhumuza, rushed to Kabale soon after the accident but declined to comment when The Monitor rang him.
Another official at the company office, Mr Francis Koporo, said the bus driver had more than a decade�s experience under his belt.
�He has been driving buses since the days of the Uganda Transport Corporation (UTC). It was just a bad chance, but not reckless driving,� he said.
The dead driver had plied the Kampala-Kigali route for more than a year. Four months ago his route was extended to the Burundi border.
In a fateful twist, one of the homes that the bus crashed into belonged to Koporo�s father, Mr Christopher Rwabashaki.
�My relatives were drinking �Muramba� (a local brew) in the compound and the coach buried them,� he said.
Although his father survived, many of his relatives were still missing.
Koporo said that the ill-fated bus was in perfect condition and has been on the road for only 10 months.
Meanwhile, local residents at Kyonjo told The Monitor that the accident scene was notorious for accidents.
�Being a sharp corner we need humps to check the speed of these vehicles. Many accidents have been happening at this spot but this one is the worst," said Mr Gad Tusiime.
List of injured flown to Kigali
Ms Betty Butoyi, Ms Niyonzima, Mr Musa Kakwenzire, Ms Uwimbabazi, Ms Namubiru, Mr Wasse, Mr Abdalla Hassan, Mr Twagiromubiza, Mr Habomugisha, Ms Niyonzima (with child), Mr Abdallah, Mr Ntabwobwa, Mr Bigirimana, Mr Hakizimana, Mr Ayub Abdu, Ms Rhona, Mr Nimbona, Mr Isaac Uwimana, Mr Moses Bakandebe
Confirmed dead:
Mr Francis Karugaba, Mr Arthur Karugaba, Ms Prisca Karugaba, Mr Derrick Karugaba, Mr Kabagambe Owesigire, Mr Mohammad �Kabody,� Ms Khalifan Ashya, Mr Ahalan, Ms Salaamu, Mr Deuf (7-year-old boy), Mr Amon Kahoro, Mr Derrick Kisembo, Ms Rhoda Tusubirwa (was going to join Makerere University), Ms Jackline Ikobwa, Mr Patrick Tumwesigye, Mr Simpson (local resident), Mr Tugume (2-year-old boy), Mr Moses Kayanja, Mr Robert Kashojwo.
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