By Hillary Keingana
KAPCHORWA/KAMPALA: Twenty-one people, most of them pupils, were killed and 70 others injured on Wednesday evening after a school bus lost control and overturned in Chekwatit village, Kapchorwa District.
The accident happened at about 7:40pm along the road in Kimawa Parish, Kawowo Sub County, according to police report from Kapchorwa Police Station
Police say the vehicle involved was an Isuzu bus, registration UA 108BQ, belonging to King David Junior School in Ndejje, Makindye Division, Kampala. The bus was carrying pupils who had gone for a tour to Sipi Falls and was heading back when the driver reportedly lost control, hit a large stone by the roadside, and overturned.
Kapchorwa police confirmed 21 people died in the crash: 1 adult male, 14 male juveniles and 6 female juveniles.
Ssekade Tadeo, listed as director, and pupils named as Amal, Draxler G, Kiyimba M, Mustwala Eyem, Nyang, Sunday, Ihanga, Ocholu, and Joshua G. Eleven other bodies remain unidentified. All 21 bodies were taken to Kapchorwa mortuary.
Seventy other victims, all yet to be identified, sustained injuries. They were rushed to Kaserem Health Centre IV, Kapchorwa General Hospital, and Mbale Referral Hospital for treatment. Police say the injured include 3 adult males and 67 juveniles, both boys and girls.
The scene was visited by D/RPC Sipi SSP Waibi Philbert, D/RCID, D/CID Kapchorwa, DTO Kween and a team from Traffic Kapchorwa.
Police say the exact cause of the crash is still under investigation. The driver of the bus had not been identified by the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, while the Education Minister John Chrysostom Muyingo has suspended all school educational trips pending comprehensive investigations into the bus crash that claimed the lives of 20 pupils and the director of King David Junior School, Ndejje as the Ministry of Works and Transport has convened an emergency meeting on road safety. The Minister of Works and Transport is expected to address the media later today following the meeting. End.
