Six dead, 16 injured in Kirehe road accident

Six businesspersons,  including two women, died on the spot while 16 others were injured in Kirehe District yesterday when a minibus they were travelling in collided head-on with a truck.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Six businesspersons,  including two women, died on the spot while 16 others were injured in Kirehe District yesterday when a minibus they were travelling in collided head-on with a truck.The accident happened at about 4:30 am at Cyunuzi junction on Kibungo-Rusumo road. The 26 passengers aboard the ill-fated minibus, registration number RAC 827K, were heading to Kigali.Thirteen of the injured were admitted at Kirehe Hospital, while the dead, whose bodies were taken to the hospital mortuary, included one of the three occupants of the truck, registration number T582 ANU.The police and military personnel in the area as well as Kirehe Hospital medics rushed to the scene to rescue the injured."All those admitted with various injuries are steadily recovering,” the Director of Kirehe Hospital, Dr Jean Nepo Uwilingiyemungu said.Jackline Tuombe, the wife of John Kayombya one of the victims admitted under intensive care at CHUK, said her husband sustained injuries in the back of his head.She said her husband had woken up early to head to Kigali for business transactions.The cause of the accident is yet to be established but the police spokesperson in the Eastern Province, Supt Emmanuel Karuranga, said the junction where the accident took place is a blackspot. He  cautioned drivers against violating traffic rules to avoid accidents."Most of the time accidents on this road are a result of drink driving an recklessness,” said Supt KarurangaThe accident happened days after three people killed and two others were critically injured in two separate accidents in Rwamagana District last weekend.Meanwhile, five people died and 12 others were injured in Rusizi District when a minibus carrying 18 Congolese citizens veered off the road yesterday afternoon.Superintendent Vita Amza, the police spokesperson in the Western Province said that the vehicle was from Bukavu heading to Uvila in DR Congo but it had crossed though Rwanda.He attributed the accident to over-speeding.