Three people have been confirmed dead,

Preliminary reports indicate that the driver of the fuel tanker lost control of his vehicle by trying to avoid ramming into two people on a boda boda (commercial motorcycle).

However he did not manage to avoid the motorcycle since he was driving at high speed and reportedly knocked the two people on the boda boda , swerved off the road, and his vehicle burst into flames killing him instantly.

“The fuel tank from the Tororo side heading towards Mbale city knocked people on a boda boda that was branching to a fuel station. The lorry tanker knocked the boda boda man dead and the passenger got stuck under the tank which had overturned. It caught fire immediately burning them,” said one eyewitness.

“The driver of Somali origin tried to escape from the tanker but it was too late. He suffered serious injuries caused by the fire. The rescue team rushed him to hospital,” he added.

In the ensuing chaos, police had to fight off several boda boda riders and other locals who attempted to turn a tragic situation in their favour by drawing close to the fuel tanker in an attempt to collect fuel flowing from the tank. In the process, some of these persons sustained burns and other injuries.

All the injured were reportedly rushed to Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, while the three dead bodies have been taken to the mortuary.

Elgon Region Police spokesperson Rogers Taitika said police had to battle hard to keep the crowds away from the burning fuel tank.

When the crowds trying to collect the fuel increased, police had no option but to tear gas the milling crowds and thereby dispersed it as traffic was diverted to Nabumali-Lwakhakha road.

As road accidents continue to be reported, the situation is dire on Ugandan roads.

Earlier this month, police reported that there have been several accidents this year.

"Out of the accidents so far, 29 accidents were fatal, 52 were serious and 25 were minor," Traffic Police Spokesperson ASP Faridah Nampiima said.

She said that at least 39 persons died in road accidents in the new year, adding that there were a total of 106 accidents that occurred between 31st December, 2021 and 2nd January, 2022.

In 2020, a total of 3,633 people were killed in road accidents in Uganda, the Minister of Works and Transport Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala said recently.

This figure represents an increase from the numbers of deaths on Ugandan roads in 2018 and 2019 when at least 3,194 and 3,407 people respectively died in road accidents.

“Uganda is still faced with road safety challenges. In 2020, the reported deaths due to road crashes were 3,663. That is a lot of lives lost in one year,” Wamala said.

Wamala revealed that the majority of the fatalities were persons aged between 17 and 35 years of age.

“The human and financial loss is very huge for a developing country like Uganda because when these lives are lost, that means these are taxpayers, then the government will not be able to get taxes, (and) families lives will be shattered,” he said.

The minister further stated that the causes of these road accidents were majorly due to over speeding, he noted that 36 percent of all fatalities on Ugandan roads could be avoided if over speeding is done away with.