People gathered at the scene of fuel tanker explosion at Kigogwa town on Kampala-Bombo road on October 22, 2024. Inset, a body retrieved from the debris at the scene. PHOTOS/ ABUBAKER LUBOWA
The horror that befell the sleepy town of Kigogwa in Nansana Municipality, Wakiso District, yesterday was there for all to see after an inferno claimed 11 lives.
By the fringes of the road lay the charred remains of a tanker that swerved off the road after trying to avoid colliding with a taxi that stopped suddenly to pick up a passenger.
“The taxi driver made an instant stop in the middle of the road. This is what caused the truck driver behind him to swerve and lose control of his vehicle,” Mr Joseph Ssenkumba, Kigogwa village chairperson, said yesterday.
A handful of Kigogwa residents thought they had landed their biggest payday when fuel spillage took centre stage. But then, almost in an instant, the stricken tanker went up in flames.
Although Mr Ssenkumba isn’t certain what sparked the fire, he suspects the fuel fumes could have come into contact with the charcoal stoves of maize vendors.
A video captured by an eyewitness shows a fire igniting from a distance and then quickly sweeping across dozens of people who were siphoning fuel from the tanker.
Several people were seen running away to escape the inferno, but some were thrown to the ground by the initial blast.
The wreckage of a fuel tanker that overturned and burst into flames at Kigogwa Town on Kampala-Bombo road in Kasangati, Wakiso District on October 22, 2024. PHOTOES/ NOELINE NABUKENYA
By press time, the police hadn’t released the number of people who had been killed in the fire.
Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesman Patrick Onyango said several people had been killed and others injured. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Onyango hastened to add that they were still verifying the numbers in different health facilities.
“Reports indicate several people may have lost their lives, while others have been injured,” he said.
Mr Charles Lwanga, the resident district commissioner for Nansana Municipality, said 11 people had been reported dead including roadside vendors, shop attendants and those who attempted to siphon fuel from the tanker. Two children are among the dead.
Fire fighters at the scene where a fuel tanker overturned and burst into flames on Kampala-Bombo Road in Kasangati, Wakiso District on October 22, 2024.
"We wouldn't have all those numbers if people didn't gather to fetch fuel," Mr Lwanga said, adding that more than 20 injured people were taken to health centres for treatment.
People rushing to siphon fuel from tankers that have been involved in accidents is not uncommon in Uganda. Hundreds of lives have been claimed by such incidents. One of the most gruesome incidents took place on June 30, 2013 when an explosion killed 42 people on the Northern Bypass at Namungoona in Kampala City.
The worst such accident took place in December 2001 when 90 people siphoning fuel from a stricken fuel tanker were killed in Buseesa, Iganga District.
Another deadly petrol tanker incident was at Lwankima in Mabira Forest when a minibus, a fuel tanker and a Suzuki car collided. The February 2005 accident left 45 people dead.
Accidents involving fuel tankers prompted the Ministry of Works and Transport to impose bi-annual inspection of motor vehicles carrying dangerous cargo. The government contracted a Swiss company Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS) to carry out the inspection in July 2016.
SGS established several centres across the country to inspect motor vehicles. But the project failed due to opposition by the vehicle owners who complained about the cost of inspection and who has the mandate to do it.
In 2020, the Cabinet proposed revamping the inspection of vehicles, but it hasn’t been implemented.
OTHER INCIDENTS
February 14, 2004: Forty-two people died when three vehicles, including a commuter taxi, were involved in a collision at Lwankima in Mabira Forest on the Kampala-Jinja road. Shortly after the accident, the vehicles caught fire and victims were burnt to death. On June 30, 2013: A fuel tanker was hit by a car causing spillage and thereafter the fuel tanker exploded in Namungoona, a Kampala suburb. At least 42 people were burnt to death. July 30, 2006: Thirty people were killed when a fuel tanker collided with a Mitsubishi Rosa minibus at Kitega hill on Kampala-Jinja Road. August 2006: Twenty-seven passengers died when their minibus collided head-on with a fuel tanker on the Kampala-Jinja road, 3km from Lugazi town; another three trying to steal fuel from the tanker were killed by the petrol fumes. September 18, 2012: Fourteen passengers were burnt to death when Horizon Bus crashed and burst into flames.
Witness accounts.
Anold Makubuya, boda boda rider
The fuel tanker driver lost control and it overturned, people rushed to fetch the spilling fuel before the tanker caught fire, which killed and injured others.
A charcoal stove and charred maize cobs pictured at the scene where a fuel tanker explosion at Kigogwa town on Kampala-Bombo road left several dead and scores injured. The woman who was roasting the maize is suspected to be one of the victims of the explosion
Fatiah Nakayi, resident
After the accident, the fuel tanker driver jumped out of the vehicle and urged people to stop fetching fuel and run for their lives in vain, after a few minutes, the tank caught fire killing them.
Habib Ssekaaya, resident
The fire was too much and police took almost an hour to reach the scene. Fortunately, when the fire brigade team arrived, they chased away the residents who were trying to rescue the victims. Witness accounts.
Isaac Mukwaya, resident
We need speed humps in this area, many accidents are occurring and many of them are due to speeding and reckless driving.
Joseph Ssenkumba, Kigogwa Village chairperson
The accident was caused by a taxi driver who stopped in the middle of the road to pick a passenger, making a speeding fuel truck that was following to lose control and immediately veered off the road. The fuel started pouring and being a very flammable liquid, it caught fire from a charcoal stove of a roadside maize vendor, destroying seven nearby buildings and claimed the lives of more than 10 people.
