Over 20 people were Wednesday morning seriously injured after two passenger buses collided head-on along the Ntungamo-Kabale Road in Ntungamo District, authorities have said. 

The accident at Katinda Bridge, about 12 Km from Ntungamo Town, involved an oncoming Trinity company bus from Kigali to Kampala and a Volcano company bus heading to Kigali from Kampala. 

Survivors and locals told Monitor that the collision was at about 5:15am.  Daniel Mawanda, a survivor who was in the Trinity bus said he “observed the conductor’s leg amputated and two critically injured women.”

“I was in seat number 40 when the buses collided at once. We fell down and escaped through windows.  Another woman lost two legs while the other lost a leg too,” he said.

Police had not yet established the exact number of victims as they reached the accident scene after many people had been rescued by Redcross and good samaritans.

However, an on-scene police officer who spoke to this reporter on condition of anonymity estimated the injured at 23.

“We had at least 23 people taken to hospital according to ambulance systems but the badly injured are 12. We are fortunate no death has been registered so far,” he said at around 10am on Wednesday.

Monitor understands that most of the injured were rushed to Doctor’s Referral Hospital in Rubaare Town while others were taken to Itojo Hospital.

Mid-morning Wednesday, Dr Nicholas Karuhanga of Doctor’s Referral Hospital said at least six victims admitted at their facility were responding well to treatment.

“Our ambulance, the ambulance of Redcross and other vehicles brought in the six victims whom we are still treating. Several others were given fast aid and left,” he said. 

Eyewitnesses attributed the accident to a misty road which potentially blurred both drivers.

“The scene is a black spot and has registered four accidents this month, including today’s,” area resident and eyewitness of Wednesday’s accident George Nahwera observed.

In January, six people died following a collision of two Rwanda bound buses at Rwahi in Ntungamo District. Just last week, a Jaguar bus left one dead after it rammed into stationary vehicles, swerving off the road into the parking of Doctors Referral Hospital in Rubaare Tow.

The Ntungamo district police traffic and road safety officer Allen Kobusingye blames most of the accidents in the area on negligence and over speeding. By Robert Muhereza, Daily Monitor