Police have identified victims of a road accident that claimed lives in Kabale District on Thursday.
The crash which occurred at Butare village along Katuna-Kabale Highway on Thursday night involved a Simba Bus and a Mercedes Benz saloon car.
According to eyewitnesses, the Kampala-bound bus registration number KCG-888F collided with a Mercedes Benz saloon car registration number RAF 036T which was heading to Kigali by the time the tragedy occurred.
Kigezi Region Police Spokesperson Elly Maate has identified the deceased as Bishop Theogene Niyonshuti, 41, A renowned evangelist attached to Pentecostal Church of Rwanda, Donati Nteziryaho, also a Rwandan national and Deovata Moneza, a Congolese national.
A bus passenger identified as Ruth Athieno, was injured and is receiving treatment at Kabale Regional Referral Hospital.
Maate says that the driver of the saloon car left his lane and drove on the opposite side leading to a head-on collision with the bus. He, however, adds that preliminary investigations show that despite being in his lane, the bus driver was overspeeding.
Maate adds that the bodies of the deceased have been taken to Kabale Hospital Mortuary for postmortem while the wreckage of vehicles has been taken to Kabale police station as investigations into the matter continue. The case is registered at Kabale Police Station.
In December 2022, six people died when a Volcano Bus registration number RAD 798B destined for Kampala from Kigali-Rwanda collided with an Oxygen bus registration number KCU 054L at Hakabira on top of Rwahi hill in Rwahi town council in Ntumgamo district. This was after the driver of the Volcano bus changed from his left lane and started driving from the right one.
Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are the countries under the East African community that drive on the right-hand side of the road. Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania drive on the left-hand side of the road.