A relative of one of the victims of fuel tanker explosion at Kigogwa, Kampala-Bombo road reacts as police comb the scene for more leads on October 23, 2024. PHOTO/ ABUBAKER LUBOWA
A teenager who died while trying to rescue children who were caught up in the Kigogwa fuel tanker blaze has been described as selfless.
Joseph Muwonge, 19, chose not to run away from the inferno on Tuesday evening as five children caught in the crosshairs cried out for help. The children had gone to a gaming store that Muwonge opened last year.
“I can’t believe that Joseph is gone,” Alice Nassali, a food vendor who counted Muwonge amongst her clients, said yesterday, adding, “He was not a problematic man.”
Ms Stacy Nakalema, who vends maize near the play area, said a food vendor only identified as Nabukeera had just delivered food to Muwonge at his gaming store before the inferno swept through the area. Before that, young girls and boys were having the time of their lives playing various computer games at the store. The gaming store had only one exit, which unfortunately faces the Kampala-Gulu highway where the fire started.
“Fuel had already flooded the neighbourhood and they were prone to death once fire started which they didn't realise at first,” Ms Nakalema said, adding, “[Muwonge] was overheard wailing out for help but everyone was fighting their way out of the catastrophe and the house burnt to ashes.”
Mr Amon Kabanda, Muwonge’s grandfather, said that the deceased was the one who was taking care of him. He described the aftermath of the Tuesday blaze as punishing, especially on Muwonge’s parents who kept moving in and out of different medical facilities hoping that their son had survived the blaze.
"They were advised to go to Mulago Referral Hospital to give DNA samples and they were assured of the results in the next two days,” Mr Kabanda told Monitor.
Gone too soon
The story of Muwonge’s demise is but one of several tales of loss that Kigogwa is contending with following Tuesday’s blaze.
A 26-year-old mother and her two children are among the 15 people who died in a fire after the explosion of a fuel tanker at Kigogwa Trading Centre in Gombe, Nansana Municipality. Teddy Nakamya, together with her children, Chelusa Nakayaga, 5, and Polly Namutebi, 3, were in their house, a stone’s throw away from where the stricken tanker was.
Eyewitnesses say when the inferno swept through the area, Nakamya joined her children inside the house. Ms Esther Namunyiga, one of her tenants who survived the fire, said: “She immediately entered the house and closed the door, hopeful fire would not reach her house,”
She added: “Due to panic after the fire extended to her bedroom, [Nakamya] tried to open the backdoor but couldn't find the keys. By this time the fire was all over her house.”
She stood no chance as did 14 others.
Nakalema had just returned from the garden where she picked corn for roasting to make a quick buck. No sooner had she started lighting her charcoal stove and preparing the maize for roasting than a fuel tanker which appeared to be failing its driver passed on the road. Minutes later, Nakalema heard that the driver of the tanker had lost control. Locals, who couldn’t believe their luck, were now siphoning fuel. Then, after about 10 minutes, Nakalema heard a loud blast.
“At first I thought it was a car tyre that had burst, but it was followed by the noise of people. They were shouting at the top of their voices and spoke of smoke,” she said.
By yesterday the police confirmed that the blaze in Kigogwa had claimed 15 lives while destroying properties worth millions.
“The first explosion killed many young men and that is when I also stood up to escape the inferno. Fortunately, I ran towards the side where the fires didn't reach,” Ms Yudaya Nalukwago, one of the eyewitnesses, told Monitor yesterday.
Ms Nalukwago remembers ugly scenes of many boda boda riders who were running naked crying out for help after the blaze burnt all their clothes.
“They were craving for water to pour on the wounds they had sustained,” she said.
Close shave
Ms Esther Namunyiga, a food seller, said that she ran for almost a mile to save her life although everything including her business and house got burnt.
“When the fuel tanker fell, people started siphoning fuel using jerrycans and basins," she said.
Ms Namunyiga explains that locals were having none of it despite the driver of the tanker issuing repeated warnings about the dangers of siphoning the fuel.
“The fuel started flowing and flooded all over the area through the trenches up to about 100 metres from where the vehicle fell," she said.
This, she added, prompted her to run very fast. No sooner had she left, than she heard a loud explosion.
“We continued running and if we had hesitated, like most of our friends, we would be some of the victims now,” she said.
Mr Muwereza Katende, whose house was partially burnt, said the first blast happened when he had just moved away from his home. He had left his mother and his two children having lunch.
“I looked for my mother and her grandchildren from every corner of the house and thought they had died, but by God's grace she had moved away after sensing that fuel had flooded the trench in front of my home," he said.
Mr Felix Mukisa, a boda boda rider at Kaddu stage, said the fuel tanker swerved off the road and overturned near where he was. Mr Mukisa said he chose not to siphon fuel because he vividly remembers how a similar incident claimed several lives in Namungoona.
SOME OF THE VICTIMS
A mother and children A 26-year-old mother and her two children are among the 15 people who died in the fire after the explosion of a fuel tanker at Kigogwa Trading Centre in Gombe, Nansana Municipality. Teddy Nakamya, together with her children, Chelusa Nakayaga, 5, and Polly Namutebi, 3, were burnt in their house, a stone’s throw away from where the stricken tanker was.
