Bus collision on highway near Ugandan capital Kampala kills 63 | News

Two buses traveling in opposite directions on the Kampala-Gulu highway collided head-on while overtaking.

At least 63 people were killed in a serious road accident involving several vehicles on the highway between the Ugandan capital Kampala and the northern town of Gulu, police said.

The collision took place shortly after midnight [21:00 GMT on Tuesday] and was caused by two buses coming from opposite directions attempting to overtake a truck and a car.

“During this process, the two buses passed each other head-on during overtaking maneuvers,” Ugandan police said in a statement on X. “Sixty-three people lost their lives, all occupants of the vehicles involved.”

Police added that “as investigations continue, we strongly urge all motorists to exercise extreme caution on the roads, particularly avoiding dangerous and reckless overtaking, which remains one of the leading causes of accidents in the country.”

The people traveling in the truck and car were injured and taken to Kiryandongo Hospital and other nearby medical facilities, the statement said. He did not give further details on the number of injured or the extent of their injuries.

The Kampala-Gulu highway is one of the busiest in Uganda as it connects the capital to the largest city in northern Uganda.

The death toll in the latest crash is unusually high, said Irene Nakasiita, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross, who described the bleeding victims and their broken limbs.

She said images from the scene were too horrific to share, adding that “the scale of this incident is so great.”

In Uganda, 5,144 people were killed in road accidents in 2024, according to police figures. This number increased from 4,806 in 2023 to 4,534 in 2022.