Ugandan officials said on Friday they had found United Nations insignia in the charred wreckage of a bus that burst into flames the previous day after a collision with a runaway fuel tanker, killing about 60 people.
On Thursday evening, a senior police officer reported that 10 UN peacekeepers stationed in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were aboard the bus involved in Thursday’s accident at Rututo, some 360 kilometres west of the capital Kampala.
Colonel Pieper Armse, liaison officer for the DRC force (Monuc) was unable to confirm that blue helmets were aboard the bus, but did say two Indian Monuc officers had crossed the frontier from DRC at Mpondwe where Ugandan officials had on Thursday said peacekeepers had boarded.
Bushenyi District Police Commissioner Makmot Okello told reporters a badge with UN markings had been found amid the charred remains in the bus.
”We are waiting for an immigration officer from Mpondwe to deliver the names and particulars of these people,” he said.
”It is a badge like those security personnel are fond of wearing,” Okello said adding that some burnt documents had Monuc markings.
He added that most of the accident’s victims were charred beyond recognition.
Two Dutch nationals, a man and a woman, were also thought to have been on the bus, police said.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said that he learnt of the accident with ”profound shock”.
”The president sends his condolences to the bereaved families and prays that the victim’s souls rest in eternal peace,” according to a statement issued by his office. – Sapa-AFP