We set off from the Ministry of Tourism offices at around midday on Saturday. We were divided into two groups, one group was headed to Mbarara to cover the Miss Tourism Ankole search and another one to the Miss Tourism Tooro search. I was in the car that was heading to Mbarara. Shortly after we set off, Resty Namawejje, the NTV journalist, asked the driver if he could make it to Mbarara in two hours but everyone knew it was impossible. However, the driver said he could see if he can make it maybe in three hours.
When we beat all the traffic jam in Kampala to Maya, that’s when the driver started driving fast. I am sure that the speed was to the limit because boda boda cyclists said it was moving so fast. Inside we were playing music and chatting. There was also a WhatsApp group we were involved in, including other colleagues who were driving in another vehicle behind us. At Maya, our driver tried to overtake at the same speed he was moving. He managed to overtake a taxi but before heading in front of it another taxi emerged immediately. The driver tried to dodge the taxi coming from Masaka to get ahead of the one we were trying to overtake.
The driver managed to overtake but in the process of making the car stable in our direction, he lost balance and the car overturned. It rolled four times. The girls started screaming. The next thing I saw was the car in a swamp. It was only the driver, the co-driver and I who were conscious. The driver only said: “You guys forgive me”. The one in the co-driver seat said: “Thank Jesus that we are alive.” I helped my two colleagues out of the car. This is when I noticed the girls in the swamp. We carried those who were unconscious out of the swamp into the side of the road but Resty was not breathing. We then got a vehicle that took the three of us to a clinic in Kyengera. As the two were being treated, we returned to the accident scene 20 minutes later to find out the situation.
Credit: Monitor.co.ug
