More than 40 people killed in multiple vehicle crash in Uganda, police say

Two buses and two other vehicles crashed in western Uganda, killing at least 46 people, police said, in one of the worst road accidents in the East African country in recent years.

Police initially gave the death toll as 63 in a statement sent to reporters, but later revised it to 46, saying in another statement that some people found unconscious at the crash scene were actually still alive.

“At the time of the crash, several victims were found unconscious, and some may have been mistakenly included in the initial fatality count,” the statement said.

Several other people were injured in the crash that happened after midnight local time on the road to Gulu, a major city in northern Uganda.

Two bus drivers going in opposite directions attempted to overtake other vehicles and collided near the town of Kiryandongo, according to police.

“In the process, both buses met head-on during the overtaking manoeuvres,” the police statement said.

Fatal road crashes are common in Uganda and elsewhere in East Africa, where roads are often narrow.

Police usually blame such accidents on speeding drivers.

In August, a bus carrying mourners home from a funeral in south-western Kenya overturned and plunged into a ditch, killing at least 25 people and injuring several others.

The death toll in the latest crash in Uganda was uncommonly high, Irene Nakasiita, a Red Cross spokeswoman, said.

She said the images from the scene were too gruesome to share.

“The magnitude of this incident is so big,” Ms Nakasiita said.

While accident victims can expect to get help from onlookers and emergency services personnel who rush to crash sites, “at night, even bystanders are not there”, she said.

Most of the injured people were receiving treatment at a government hospital nearby.

In Uganda, 5,144 people were killed in road crashes in 2024. This number rose from 4,806 in 2023 and 4,534 in 2022, according to official police figures, which show a steady rise in the total number of those killed or injured in road crashes in recent years.

Careless overtaking and speeding accounted for 44.5% of all crashes documented in 2024, the police’s latest crime report said.

“As investigations continue, we strongly urge all motorists to exercise maximum caution on the roads, especially avoiding dangerous and careless overtaking, which remains one of the leading causes of crashes in the country,” the police said in a statement issued after the latest crash.