Bypass fire: death toll rises to 35

The death toll from Saturday night’s fire which broke out following an accident involving a fuel tanker and another car at Namungoona, on the Northern Bypass has climbed to 35.

On Sunday, police put the number of those who died at 33.

Information Minister, Ms Rosemary Namayanja, said on Monday that two more people have succumbed to the wounds they sustained in the Saturday fire.

The accident happened after a Toyota Noah car rammed into a fuel tanker at about 9.30pm, resulting into a spillage of fuel on the road and down into a nearby papyrus swamp.

Minutes later, the place had been swarmed by boda boda cyclists, passersby and local area residents armed with jerrycans, basins and other equipment to scoop the fuel. The scramble would, however, not last long as a fire suddenly erupted, trapping tens in the swamp and burning some of them beyond recognition.

Charred bodies and limbs -- some still scattered and others lined up neatly by rescue workers -- covered the scene of the fire in Kampala's Namungona suburb, an AFP photographer said.

Numerous motorbikes -- some with the petrol tank still on fire -- littered the scene.

Police said many of the victims appeared to have headed to the scene on motorbike taxis, a common form of transport in Kampala.

Mr Enock Kasasira, the Mulago Hospital Spokesperson said 17 bodies have been identified. He said respective relatives have since claimed the bodies.

The accident is the worst of its kind in Uganda since December 2001 when some 90 people perished in similar circumstances in the east of the country, police said.

Meanwhile, President Yoweri Museveni has visited the scene of the accident, where police officers briefed him about the calamity.

Monday 1 July 2013

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Bypass-fire--death-toll-rises-to-35/-/688334/1900728/-/q752qv/-/index.html

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