At least 63 people killed in a crash of buses and other vehicles in western Uganda

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — At least 63 people were killed when two buses and two vehicles collided on a highway in western Uganda early Wednesday, police said, in one of the East African country’s worst motor crashes in years.

Many people were injured in the accident that occurred after midnight local time on the highway leading to Gulu, a major city in northern Uganda.

According to police, two bus drivers heading in opposite directions collided near the town of Kiryandongo while trying to pass other vehicles.

In the police statement, it was said, “In this process, both buses encountered each other during overtaking manoeuvres.”

Fatal road accidents are common in Uganda and elsewhere in East Africa, where roads are often narrow. Police usually attribute such accidents to speeding drivers. In August, a bus carrying mourners home after a funeral in southwestern Kenya overturned and fell into a ditch. At least 25 people were killed and many others were injured..

Red Cross spokeswoman Irene Nakasiita said the death toll in the latest accident in Uganda was unusually high, with victims left with broken limbs and bloodied. He said the images from the scene were too horrific to share.

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

While crash victims can expect to get help from onlookers and other first responders who rush to the crash scene, “even bystanders aren’t there at night,” he said.

Most of the injured are being treated at a nearby public hospital.

In Uganda, 5,144 people died in traffic accidents in 2024. The number has risen from 4,806 in 2023 to 4,534 in 2022, according to official police figures, which show an alarming increase in the total number of people killed or injured in road accidents in recent years.

According to the police’s latest crime report, it was stated that 44.5 percent of all accidents documented in 2024 were caused by careless overtaking and speed.

“While investigations are ongoing, we strongly advise all drivers to exercise maximum caution on the roads, in particular to avoid dangerous and careless overtaking, which remains one of the leading causes of accidents in the country,” police said in a statement following the latest crash. he said.

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