Close to forty Passengers aboard a Gateway bus en route for Kabale from Kampala district cheated death on Tuesday afternoon after the bus they were travelling in mysteriously caught fire along Kampala -Masaka highway.
Traffic was at a standstill for close to one hour when the bus registration number UAU 926U burst into flames destroying property at Kampiringisa check point in Kamengo Sub county Mpigi district.
According to a report from the traffic police no person was injured in the rapid fire explosion that left property ravaged as passengers managed to swiftly run out of the bus .Eyewitnesses say they first heard loud sparks coming from the rear before a fire broke out .The startled passengers were complaint and quickly evacuated the bus before the flames blew up.
The panicking passengers were able to escape with the light property in their hands leaving the rest to God’s mercy.
Faridah Nampiima, the Traffic Police Spokesperson, says the exact cause of the fire outbreak is not yet known but at the fire could have been contained if there were fore tenders in Mpigi. She says police is currently holding the bus driver at Mpigi police station to help with investigations into the exact cause of the fire.
“The driver had been earlier informed about smoke from the rear but he pulled over after the fire had spread.all 37 passengers on board are safe and the cause of fire outbreak not yet established. All passengers have come out alive but their properties burnt,” Nampiima explains
By the time of filing this report ,a team of police officers had already sealed off the road, safely evacuated the passengers and was trying to put out the fire .The police officers at the scene were stranded with no way of quelling the bursting flames.
