A yet-to-be-identified person was on Tuesday morning burnt to ashes after getting trapped in the wreckage of a burning oil tanker that was involved in a road crash. The speeding fuel tanker was travelling from the Malaba border on the Jinja highway in Tororo Municipality.
The driver of the tanker registration number KAV 697Z/ ZB 7063, which was loaded with diesel, lost control opposite the Uganda College of Commerce, Tororo and rammed into electricity poles and the perimeter wall of World Food Programme stores.
Eluding Traffic Police
According to an eyewitness, the driver of the tanker driver was being trailed by Traffic Police officers who were in a white saloon car when it hit electric poles before bursting into huge flames.
Traffic flow was disrupted for nearly three hours as the raging fire and plumes of smoke engulfed that section of the Malaba-Jinja highway.
The driver is reported to have jumped out of the tanker with serious injuries leaving behind the turnboy trapped in the wreckage of the vehicle.
The Police fire and rescue officers battled the flames while also stopping residents who had rushed to the scene with jerrycans wanting to siphon fuel. Bukedi South Police spokesperson, Moses Mugwe, said the cause of the crash was speeding and reckless driving.
The residents called upon the government to install some humps on the highway, saying accidents are normally very common in the area especially from Rock Classic Hotel to Osukuru Corner Trading Centre.
Tororo Deputy Resident District Commissioner, Albert Amula, said they are going to review the CCTV footage to ascertain the cause of the accident.
