Three buried alive in stone quarry

Rubanda, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Three people were buried alive by Kiyoora stone quarry in Bubare sub-county, Rubanda district on Saturday afternoon. The incident happened at around 2:30 PM and left Jonh Bosco Rwabyooma and Andrew Magara dead, while Ambrose Kamugisha was critically injured.

The victims were all residents of Karandagasi village, Kitumba Sub County, Kabale District. Kiyoora Stone Quarry is located along Kabale-Lake Bunyonyi road in Rwabareera village, Kitojo parish. The quarry where the incident happened belongs to Saturday Rutomi.

According to Florence Tumwebaze and Julius Twesigomwe, the victims lit a fire under the quarry to keep warm and protect themselves from a heavy downpour that had started at around 11:30 AM. However, to their dismay, they saw the quarry collapsing on them.

Tumwebaze and Twesigwome managed to run away unhurt but saw the quarry burying Magara, Rwabyooma, and Kamugisha. They were only able to retrieve Rwabyooma from the soil and stones using hoes and spades and rushed him to Kabale Regional Referral Hospital, but failed to save the other victims.

Kabale and Rubanda district authorities showed up an hour later with road equipment to help retrieve the bodies, an issue that angered locals, who accused them of delay.

Godfrey Nyakahuma, Kabale Resident District Commissioner who was at the scene, told our reporter that the two district authorities would soon hold a joint security meeting to develop measures to protect people at the quarry from dying under similar circumstances.

The deceased’s bodies were taken to Kabale Regional Referral Hospital for postmortem.

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