At least 27 people are nursing injuries at Mbarara referral hospital following a Friday afternoon accident at Nyeihanga trading centre, about 30 kilometers along the Mbarara-Kabale road.
All the 68 passengers on the on board survived the accident.
The speeding Kigali-Kampala bound Jagua bus registration number UAG/108T swerved off the road and plunged into the valley as its driver tried to avoid knocking a trailer and an oncoming bus.
Senabulya Edward, a survivor of the accident says the driver of the bus failed to stop after attempting to overtake a heavy truck while another bus was coming from the opposite direction.
//Cue in: “I was in this bus…..
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The south western regional police commander Paul Nkore attributed the accident to reckless driving. Nkore says 27 of the victims were critically injured.
//Cue in; “There was an oncoming bus……
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The victims were later rushed to Mbarara regional referral hospital where they claim the health officials did not respond positively to them.
Kabanda Lawrence, another survivor said they failed to access X-ray services at the referral hospital. Kabanda said they were forced to hire private vehicles to ferry the injured passengers to a private clinic in Mbarara town to access X-ray services which is also expensive.
//Cue in: “Amaanya Nze Bampita…..
Cue out…….other means.//
The hospital authorities declined to talk to the press when contacted for a comment.
But one nurse who spoke in privacy since she‘s not authorized to speak to the press, confirmed that one accident victim, a toddler had passed away on admission at the hospital. URN could not, however, verify this information since the nurse did not know the names of the victim and could not tell where the body was.
Efforts to reach Regina Nyangoma Mugisa, the hospital administrator, were futile as she was not available in her office and could not return repeated phone calls.
