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Japanese honeymoon couple blames driver for speeding after surviving in Lwengo bus crash
Wreckage of a Gateway Bus is seen on August 19, 2024 in the aftermaths of a crash that left six dead and dozens injured. PHOTO/ISSA ALIGA
What you need to know:
- The couple revealed that they had left Kisoro to spend a day in Uganda's capital, ahead of their flight to Japan.
- Police revise death toll saying six people perished in Monday's road crash, not seven.
Two Japanese nationals, who were among dozens of survivors of a deadly Monday morning motor crash on the Masaka–Mbarara Highway in Kirumba Village, Lwengo District, have blamed the incident on the bus driver, accusing him of speeding.
Ajiki Masataka and Ajiki Kanako are among the 37 survivors who sustained minor injuries in the 4am crash involving a Gateway company that collided head-on with a Fuso truck.
According to eyewitnesses, the crash occurred as bus driver Nayi Batambuze tried to overtake a Jaguar bus, which was few metres ahead of him. He was among the six who died in the crash.
Masataka and Kanako, who we found nursing injuries on their legs at Joy for Humanity Health Centre in Kyazanga Town on Monday evening, said: ''It is God's mercy that we survived death. The driver was reckless, and passengers had already complained about him.”
Kanako told Monitor that she was in deep sleep at the time of the crash but was woken by screams from fellow passengers.
“…and all of a sudden, I started seeing blood and bodies. It was a scary scene,'' she recounted.
A health worker at Joy for Humanity Health Centre in Kyazanga Town attends to Japanese nationals Kanako Ajiki and Mr Ajiki Masataka after they survived a motor crash on the Kampala-Mbarara Highway on August 19, 2024. PHOTO/ISSA ALIGA
Masataka said the Kampala bound bus was from Kisoro District, not Kabale District as earlier claimed by one of the on-scene eyewitnesses.
“It is the other bus [Jaguar] which was coming from Kabale. Our bus was from Kisoro where I and my wife had gone for honeymoon as a newlywed couple,” he added.
The couple revealed that they had left Kisoro to spend a day in Kampala ahead of their Tuesday (August 20) morning flight to Japan.
“With this situation we are in, we are going to reschedule our flight and first recuperate,” Masataka noted.
Two other survivors, Deus Kasasira and Oman Niyogabo, also shared their ordeals as they both suffered fractured legs and arms.
Niyogabo condemned the bus driver for speeding “even when they were still in the hilly terrain of Kisoro.”
“At one point, he nearly failed to negotiate a sharp corner. We complained and told him to drive at a slow speed, but he didn’t take heed,” he told Monitor.
Accident victims Deus Kasasira (left) and Oman Niyogabo (right) at Joy for Humanity Health Centre in Kyazanga Town in the aftermaths of an August 19, 2024 crash involving a Gateway Bus and a truck. PHOTO/ISSA ALIGA
By Monday night, some survivors had been transferred to Mbarara and Masaka regional referral hospitals and other health facilities in Kampala for further management.
Southern Regional police spokesperson Twaha Kasirye disclosed that authorities were yet to identify the deceased persons and survivors since casualties lacked proper identification documents.
“We are waiting for relatives and friends to show up and may be that is when we will get particulars of victims and survivors,” he added.
The Monday crash, which is third fatal crash involving a bus on the same highway in one year, happened in less than 48 hours after five people perished in an accident along the Kampala-Mityana Highway last week.
The August 17 crash at Kiwawu Village involved a Toyota Ipsum and a truck. The driver of the Ipsum, who was among the five victims, tried to dodge a gaping pothole and rammed into an oncoming truck, according to police.
Latest police statistics suggest that about 76 people died in one week in road carnage on major highways across the country.
