A marine engineer attached to the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) has died while involved in Wednesday’s rescue of persons stranded in the middle of a flooded road, sources have said.
The deceased, whose identity cannot be revealed on moral grounds until the Police release an official statement, was in the team of rescuers out to save passengers in a commuter taxi that had been stuck in raging waters on the Olwiyo-Pakwach Road.
UNRA spokesperson Allan Ssempebwa confirmed that the deceased was among the rescuers that included marine unit from the UPDF but declined to provide further detail about the same.
The deceased was in the first rescue effort during which some passengers were rescued but a second escapade saw two boats capsize in the raging waters.
Earlier, the Spokesperson of the Traffic and Road Safety Directorate, Michael Kananura, said the joint rescue effort by UNRA and UPDF Marine Unit had successfully rescued seven persons.
“Four of those rescued are out of danger but three are in critical condition and have been rushed to Anaka Hospital as the search for survivors and victims is ongoing,” Kananura said in an updated shared at 4.42pm.
What happened?
With the country battered by heavy rains over the course of November, the flooding-prone Olwiyo-Pakwach highway was bound to suffer its usual challenge.
In the past, some motorists have taken the risk to drive through the flooded Tangi River junction on the Olwiyo–Pakwach road near Pakwach Bridge to cross from the Pakwach side.
And while it is still difficult to confirm as Police investigate what happened, sources say the driver of the ill-fated commuter taxi UBH 418W had taken a similar risk.
But the taxi, en route to Lira from Arua, got stuck in a precarious position with raging waters leaving it looking like it could be washed away any time.
Police have yet to say how many passengers were aboard the ill-fated Drone but a rescue effort that was scrambled involving the UNRA and UPDF Marine Unit would turn tragic.
In one video clip, a rescue boat is oared in a delicate position against the raging waters and rescuers approached the taxi to pluck out passengers.
One person seen being helped toward the boat, only for the raging waters to overwhelm the engine and send the boat to where the human heart would lose a thudding beat.
It turned into a case of having to search and rescue the original rescuers.
“The other update I have is that the taxi and the passengers that remained stuck inside, and a staff of ours have just been rescued and the taxi brought to land bringing some relief,” Mr Ssempebwa told the Nile Post at 8pm.
Both the UNRA and Police had earlier warned motorists and provided diversions to alternative routes.
Travellers to West Nile from Kampala have been advised to use the Paraa–Kisanja Park Junction road, while motorists from Gulu can take the Atiak–Adjumani route and cross using the Laropi Ferry to access Moyo.
Travellers to Gulu, Lira, or Kitgum are encouraged to use the Masindi Port ferry via Rwenkunye, off the Kampala–Gulu highway.
With lives lost in a potentially avoidable incident, it remains to be seen what the police investigations into the tragedy will unearth – especially on the responsibility for the incident.
