Pupils lose property as bus catches fire

Ngora, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Seventy pupils of Pallisa Girls Primary School in Pallisa district are counting losses following an inferno that razed down the bus they were traveling on. The pupils with their teachers were returning from a music festival held in the Serere district.

They were traveling by Kakise Bus registration number UAS 437P on Tuesday night when the bus caught fire around Atoot Swamp, along Mukongoro road in Ngora district. Preliminary findings indicate that the bus was carrying 70 learners and 13 teachers around 1:00 am when the rear tire burst causing the fire.

According to Oscar Gregg Ageca, the East Kyoga Regional Police Spokesman, all the learners and their teachers were safely evacuated with the exception of their property which burnt to ashes. The learners had carried their personal effects including clothes and uniforms, beddings, boxes, and musical instruments among other items.

The incident has been registered at the traffic department of Ngora Central Police Station under vide TAR 50/203 as investigations into the matter commence, according to Ageca. The Police were still recording statements by the time of filing this story. The learners and their teachers slept in a nearby church after surviving the inferno.

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