Police in Mbale City are investigating circumstance under which an Indian national was killed by a road compactor.
The deceased identified as Samsadh, who was working as supervisor of works, was crushed by a compactor on Cathederal Avenue while he was directing another truck to offload construction materials on Monday evening.
Cathedral Avenue is one of the roads under construction by Dott Services Limited, which have neared completion under the Uganda support to Municipal Infrastructure development project-USMID phase 11 funded by World Bank at Shs 16 billion.
The Resident City Commissioner (RCC), Mr Ahamada Washaki, confirmed the incident and ruled out foul play.
“As the driver of the compactor grader was reversing didn’t realise that the deceased was also behind and so he knocked down and crushed him. This was purely an accident and there was no foul play,” Mr Washaki said.
Mr Washaki, who is the head of security said, however, that police investigations are going to ascertain the circumstances that could have led to the accident.
Mr Kenbarh Kaganzi, the project manager Dott services confirmed the incident but refused to divulge details.
“Preliminary information has been submitted to the City Town Clerk because they are our employers.We may not be ready to comment on the matter because the matter is under police investigation,”Mr Kaganzi, said.
The Elgon Police spokesperson, Rogers Taitika, said police have kicked off with the investigation to establish the root cause of the accident.”It was quite unfortunate that the deceased was killed under such circumstances,”Mr Taitika said.
Mr David Wetaka, the president of Mbale City Development Forum, a body that supervises the roadworks said a commission of inquiry by the city council will be launched.
“By the time the nasty accident occurred, the victim was supervising the closing and completing the remaining gaps on the road,” he said, adding the roadworks will be suspended to allow investigations.
Mr Abudallah Magambo, the Speaker of City Council said they have for long demanded that the contractor cordon off roads, which are under construction to miminise accidents.
“If that road had been cordoned off from accessibility, this accident wouldn’t have happened,” he said.