Police fire tender trucks in Masaka spent part of Saturday on standby to prevent the fuel tanker from bursting into flames after it collided with a speeding Fuso truck.

The 4am incident happened along Masaka-Mbarara Bypass near Kasijjagirwa leaving two people dead.

The deceased include; the driver of a Fuso truck Profit Kyaluzi and Gadaffi Katabaka, a turn-boy. The Fuso truck loaded with an assortment of merchandise was coming from Kampala while the fuel tanker was from Tanzania.

For fear of a fire outbreak, the police fire brigade personnel together with the traffic police led by the Regional Traffic Officer, Mr Richard Komakech splashed soapy water on the ill-fated fuel tanker to prevent it from exploding like the one at Kigoogwa Trading Centre in Wakiso District that killed at least 24 people early this week.

Some residents of Kasijjagirwa Village narrated how the crash happened and expressed concern about the narrowness of the road yet heavy trucks from Tanzania, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo also use it.

“This Bypass could have been a duel carriageway which is not the case, we pray that something is done if we are to avoid more crashes in future,” Simon Sekitto, a resident, noted.

Others observed that there is a need to put humps to control speeding motorists.

Mr Komakech said the driver of the fuel tanker escaped unhurt.

“We are yet to establish the cause of the crash, but I want to thank our fire brigade team for their timely response that prevented the tanker from exploding,” he said.