PHOTOS: In August, a helicopter carrying Ugandan Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Thomas Tayebwa suffered an accident in the western district of Mbarara. There were no casualties, the police said. 

Rusoke Kituuma, Uganda’s police spokesperson, told Xinhua over the phone that the near-miss, involving a private Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter reportedly belonging to a local airline, BAR Aviation Uganda, occurred at Nyakisharara airfield while Tayebwa and his entourage were on their way back to Kampala, the country’s capital.

Local media reported that fire was seen coming from the cockpit, causing panic, and the pilot decided to crash land the helicopter.

Tayebwa said on his social media handle, X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday that no one was injured in the crash. “Dear all, my colleagues and I are all okay. No one is hurt.”

However, we have since learned that some MPs got injured. One of the MPs, Paul Omara (Otuke County), was rushed to Nakasero Hospital for a reported surgery.

He made a public appearance at the weekend at a cultural gathering at Ndere, Ntinda, in Kampala.

He looked to be recovering from what appeared to have been a burn.