GULU —Angry residents of Gulu Town have on Sunday evening set ablaze a truck belonging to UMEME after it got involved in a road accident in Gulu town along Kampala Highway.
The incident happened at Layibi Center in Gulu Municipality few kilometers from central town of Gulu.
The incident occurred at around 5pm when the truck registration number UAN 656 X belonging to UMEME Company Limited carrying over ten electrical technicians knocked two motorcyclists on its way to Gulu town.
One of the eye witnesses told PML Daily that two motorcyclists collided before the truck knocked them.
“There was one motorcyclist that tried to cross the main road and the other one was coming from town side, as UMEME vehicle comes from Kampala road, the vehicle tried to dodge that motorcycle, and the boda coming from town also tried to cross the road and that is the cause of the accident” the eyewitness narrated
Angry residents on seeing the incident, they began gathering dry grass and later set it ablaze while saying they are angered by power blackout in Gulu town.
“Some three people started saying today they must burn UMEME vehicle and I saw one person carrying dry grasses putting in the vehicle and started burning. They were saying there was no power for three days and again today UMEME vehicle knock people on the road, they are annoyed on UMEME, they had wanted to burn UMEME’s truck but they never had time[sic],” a source said.
Another witness who declined to mention his name says people intervened to pick up the victims few minutes after the incident while the technicians and the driver of the truck run away for their lives.
Jimmy Patrick Okema, Aswa river Regional Police spokesman confirmed the incident.
He said the angry mob pelted stones on police fire rescue officers upon their arrival at the scene.
“The vehicle UAN 656X Isuzu ELF was on fire.
Fire brigade put it off but the front part was completely burnt. But also the angry mob pelted stones at our personnel” Okema says.
He identified the two motorcycles as UDM 282T and UEV 625K all are Bajaj red in color. He confirms that the occupants of the truck and the driver ran away for their lives and they victims were rushed to yet to be identified clinic in Gulu town.
A case of malicious damage has been opened at Gulu central police station under SD 27/03/11/2019.
