At least six people died on spot and 11 others sustained nasty injuries in a road crash involving two motor vehicles at Nile Village near Nile breweries along the Jinja-Kampala highway.
Assistant Superintendent of Police – ASP Hellen Butoto, the Ssezibwa regional police spokesperson, said the motor vehicles involved in the Tuesday 1pm crash were UBB 895H Mitsubishi Fuso truck and UBL 838U Toyota Hiace.
ASP Butoto said the deceased persons who were passengers in the taxi are yet to be identified, while some of the injured are; Mandu Elvis 26, Adong Merab 20, and another one only identified as Kato.
“The other eight injured persons are yet to be identified as they are unable to speak due to severe injuries. It is alleged that the Fuso truck which was being driven by an unknown driver from Kayunga side heading towards Njeru lost control at Nile village and rammed into the taxi which was coming from Kampala side heading towards Mbale,” ASP Butoto said.
Police said the injured persons were rushed to Jinja hospital and Nile international hospital respectively for treatment while the six dead bodies were conveyed to Jinja hospital mortuary pending a postmortem examination.
ASP Butoto added that both motor vehicles are parked at Njeru police station yard pending inspection by Inspectorate of Vehicles (IOV) and inquiries are ongoing.
With only 25 days left to end this year, road crashes have been high and more lethal in the last six months.
Traffic police records put Uganda’s annual road deaths at 3,500 people. But last year’s the deaths skyrocketed to 4,159. However, this year’s road deaths are feared to be higher than those of last year.