Bus collision on highway near Uganda’s capital Kampala kills 63 people | News

Two buses travelling in reverse instructions on the Kampala-Gulu Freeway collided head-on whereas overtaking.

A minimum of 63 folks have been killed in a significant highway accident involving a number of automobiles on the freeway between Uganda’s capital Kampala and the northern metropolis of Gulu, police have stated.

The collision passed off simply after midnight [21:00 GMT on Tuesday] and was brought on by two buses coming from reverse instructions making an attempt to overhaul a truck and a automotive.

“Within the course of, each buses met head-on in the course of the overtaking manoeuvres,” the Uganda Police Power stated in a press release on X. “Sixty-three folks misplaced lives, all occupants from concerned automobiles.”

The police added that “as investigations proceed, we strongly urge all motorists to train most warning on the roads, particularly avoiding harmful and careless overtaking, which stays one of many main causes of crashes within the nation”.

These travelling within the truck and the automotive have been injured and brought to Kiryandongo Hospital and different close by medical services, the assertion stated. It didn’t give additional particulars on the quantity injured or the extent of their wounds.

The Kampala-Gulu Freeway is certainly one of Uganda’s busiest because it connects the capital with the largest city in northern Uganda.

The dying toll within the newest crash is uncommonly excessive, stated Irene Nakasiita, a Purple Cross spokeswoman who described victims left bleeding with damaged limbs.

She stated the photographs from the scene have been too grotesque to share, including that “the magnitude of this incident is so huge”.

In Uganda, 5,144 folks have been killed in highway crashes in 2024, in response to police figures. That quantity rose from 4,806 in 2023 and 4,534 in 2022.