It was a sombre Thursday afternoon in Kwarikari – Bushangi village, Bukedea district at Mr. Muhammad Butoto’s backyard as he burried his two sons who perished in a road accident this week.
Unlike their father who was also on board, Butoto’s sons (Fahad and Aziz) did not survive a motor accident involving a FUSO truck registration No. UBA 315L that claimed lives of three people on Tuesday evening.
It’s a very sad reality for a father to burry his son, and Butoto felt twice the pain as he burried two of them at once. Two graves were dug besides each other as the father watched one immediately after another of his sons being covered underground with soil. The trader was overcome with emotion as he lamented over what had befallen his family.
“I don’t know why me!,” An aggrieved Butoto wailed. “Fahad and Aziz have been helping me as turn boys,” he sobbed on as he counted his loses.
Not only did he lose his beloved sons, they also doubled as his convenient, trusted business partners as well. And not everything of the trading items could be retrieved.
Butoto, who had hired the vehicle employed his sons as turn boys. The deceased were amongst other traders from Bugisu and Teso aboard a truck heading to buy cattle in Kotido district on Wednesday (June 8) when it crashed near Soroti fruit factory in Soroti city. Also on the truck were other passengers, cement, iron sheets, and paint that they were taking for sale in Kotido, and they would return with cattle.
According to eyewitness, the three people who died were all those behind the truck, as the heavy materials they were carrying hit and and even covered them, making it a little bit hard for them to survive, or be rescued fast.
The survivors insist the driver was not overspeeding, but narrated that he lost control as he tried to dodge a boda boda rider who overtook them and fell in front of them. That in the process, the vehicle swayed off the road and overturned.
