At least 46 dead after two buses collide on Uganda highway

Two buses and two other vehicles crashed early Wednesday on a highway in western Uganda, killing at least 46 people, police said.

Ugandan police had earlier reported a death toll of 63 but later reduced it to 46, saying some victims found unconscious at the accident scene were still alive.

Several other people were injured in the crash that happened after midnight local time on the highway 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 back 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 uncommonly high, said Irene Nakasiita, a Red Cross spokeswoman who described victims left bleeding with broken limbs. She said the images from the scene were too gruesome to share.

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

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

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

In Uganda, 5,144 people were killed in road crashes in 2024. That number rose from 4,806 in 2023 and 4,534 in 2022, according to official police figures, which show a worrisome 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 their statement after the latest crash.

In addition to reckless driving and bad infrastructure, there is poor enforcement of traffic rules, especially for heavy vehicles moving at night, said Joseph Beyanga, a road safety campaigner who for years has been trying to raise awareness about road carnage in Uganda.

He told The Associated Press that the crash in Kiryandongo showed he and others have more work to do. "These crashes are just a cruel reminder that we still have a long way to go," he said. “On the government side, there is a total absence of enforcement. What's happening on the roads is anarchy.”

Beyanga, campaigning as Joe Walker, organises regular walks from Kampala, the Ugandan capital, into the countryside that are often attended by hundreds of followers.

His next event, planned for November, will be a memorial walk of more than 60 kilometres (37 miles) in memory of hundreds of thousands killed or maimed in road crashes over the years, he said.