School bus crashes at Nkumba traffic lights
The elite Special Forces Command (SFC) soldiers direct traffic away from the wreckage of the school coaster that flipped at the Nkumba traffic lights along Kampala-Entebbe road on 23, 2024. Photo/ Paul Adude
What you need to know:
- The crash scene that claimed the life of lawyer Raphael Okiot after a cement mixer fell on his car, has become a blackspot
A minibus transporting pupils of Trust Infant Primary School, Mpmedde in Nakasake District, has crashed at Nkumba traffic lights at the same spot that claimed the life of lawyer Raphael Okiot in April this year.
Eyewitnesses told this reporter that the driver of the coaster registration number UBA 839B lost control after he failed to brake upon seeing the first traffic lights at Nkumba stage when he exited the Entebbe-Kampala Expressway.
“He first hit a black Toyota Hilux government vehicle registration number UG 2402 C after which he tried to maneuver it across the road but failed and hit the middle concrete separation and flipped,” he said.
Pupils of Trust Infant Primary School, Mpmedde in Nakasake District who survived the crash take shelter under a tree near the crash scene on August 23, 2024. Photo/ Paul Adude
Mr Tony Felix, a teacher at the school said there were 58 pupils and eight teachers aboard the coaster who were heading to the airport for a tour after which they would proceed to Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre (UWEC).
"We are lucky there were no lives lost. Only six pupils got minor injuries and have been taken to nearby Sab Medical Centre for first Aid treatment," he said.
According to residents that helped evacuate the pupils, the crash scene has become a blackspot since driver's coming from Kampala rarely see the first traffic lights and only view the second ones heading up to the Nkumba University stage.
On April 19, 2024 the driver of a coaster lost control and rammed into other cars at the traffic lights barely two days after the driver of a cement mixer truck lost control and hit a road barrier before it fell on a saloon car, killing the driver, Raphael Okiot, a lawyer.
