Thirteen adults, seven minors perish in Fort portal link bus accident

Uganda police traffic department has confirmed that 20 people have died in a Link Bus Accident in Fort Portal which occurred on Wednesday at Sebitoli along the Fort Portal-Kampala Highway.

According to Traffic Police Spokesperson Faridah Nampiima, thirteen of the 20 were adults while seven were minors.

Nampiima says that the identities of the dead are yet to be established.

The Link bus registration number UBA 003S which was heading to Kampala from Bundibugyo swayed off the road and overturned several times.

Eyewitnesses working in tea plantations at Sebitoli say the front tyre of the bus burst and moments later they saw the bus knocking down the rail guards and tea shed before overturning several times.

They added that loud screams for help could be heard coming from inside the bus. However, moments after the accident Ambulances from the Kabarole District Health Department, the police, and trucks from the Mountain Brigade at Muhooti evacuated the injured to Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital. 

This left the health workers were overwhelmed by the high number of victims forcing them to set up a tent outside the surgical ward to attend to the victims after the ward got filled up.  Some of the survivors had broken limbs.  

By press time, doctors at the hospital said that they could not readily establish the exact number of survivors admitted.