At least 63 dead as two buses collide head-on in multi-vehicle crash in Uganda, police say

Kampala, Uganda — At least 63 people were killed in a crash involving several vehicles on a highway in western Uganda, police said Wednesday. Several other people were injured in the crash, police said in a statement on social media.

The accident occurred shortly after midnight local time on the highway between Kampala, the capital, and Gulu, a major city in northern Uganda.

According to police, two bus drivers traveling in opposite directions tried to overtake other vehicles and collided head-on. In total four vehicles were involved.

“One of the drivers (of the bus) swerved in an attempt to avoid the collision, but this resulted in a head-on and side collision, causing a chain reaction that led to other vehicles losing control and overturning several times,” the statement continued.

“While investigations continue, we strongly urge all motorists to use the utmost caution on the roads, especially avoiding dangerous and careless overtaking, which remains a leading cause of accidents in the country,” police said.

Fatal road accidents are common in Uganda, where roads are often narrow. Police often blame these accidents on speeding drivers.

In August, a bus carrying mourners returning home from a funeral in southwestern 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 is unusually high, said Red Cross spokeswoman Irene Nakasiita, who described the victims as bleeding and with broken limbs. He said images of the scene were too gruesome to share.

“The magnitude of this incident is very large,” Nakasiita said.

While accident victims can expect to receive help from bystanders and other first responders who rush to the scene of the accident, “at night not even bystanders are there,” he said.

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

In Uganda, 5,144 people died in road accidents in 2024. That figure rose from 4,806 in 2023 and 4,534 in 2022, according to official police figures, showing a worrying increase in the total number of people killed or injured in road accidents in recent years.

Reckless overtaking and speeding accounted for 44.5% of all documented accidents in 2024, according to the latest police crime report.

In:

• Uganda