Bus accident kills three Congolese refugees in western Uganda

KAMPALA, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Three Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) refugees died and several others were injured when a bus they were traveling in on Thursday overturned along the Ibanda-Mbarara road in western Uganda.

Duniya Aslam, spokesperson of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Uganda, told Xinhua that three refugees had died but the details are still being worked on.

"There was a single accident in Ibanda involving a bus carrying refugees. Our officers are still at the scene gathering whatever information they can get," said Patrick Onyango, deputy police spokesperson.

Normally refugees are transported on bus from overcrowed reception centers to refugee settlements.

According to UN figures, since this year started, over 70,000 Congolese refugees have crossed into Uganda fleeing fighting back home.

Humanitarian agencies say the influx of Congolese refugees has overwhelmed provision of social services in areas where they are hosted.

Uganda currently hosts the highest number of refugees in its history, receiving simultaneous emergency influxes from South Sudan, DRC, and Burundi.

Out of the over 1.3 million refugees in the east African country, over one million of them are South Sudanese. Enditem