At least nine Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) students were Wednesday fighting for their lives in hospital after a trailer with a Kenyan license plate transporting coils rammed into an army truck at Kakira in Jinja District.
According to the deputy army spokesperson Col Deo Akiiki, the lorry was transporting the students from Jinja District where they have been interning with Crested Crane Hotel to Magamaga Military Barracks in Mayuge District.
“A Kenyan registered trailer number KDH 315A driven by one Juma Masudi carrying coils, this evening rammed into a UPDF Tata lorry registration number H4DF 2700 at Kakira, pushing it off the road when it lost control. The lorry was carrying UPDF students who are on internship at Crested Ccrane Hotel in Jinja and were going back to Magamaga barracks,” Col Akiiki said Wednesday evening.
He said the injured are being managed at Jinja regional referral hospital while the 17 who sustained minor injuries were evacuated to Magamaga level three UPDF hospital for treatment.
“The driver is in hands of police and also sustained some minor injuries. We pray for a quick recovery of our troops,” Col Akiiki added.
The 2021 Uganda Police Annual Crime and Road Safety report indicates that there was a 42-percent increase in the number of crashes from 12,249 in 2020 to 17,443 in 2021. More than 3,000 crashes were fatal, and 4,616 survived with minor injuries.
The report says on average, Uganda loses approximately 10 people per day due to road
