'Head-on' Uganda bus collision kills 46, police revise toll down

Two buses collided on a major highway in Uganda early on Wednesday, killing 46 people and injuring several others, police said, lowering the death toll from 63.

The east African country has a notorious road safety record, frequently recording bus or truck accidents along poorly maintained highways.

The latest incident occurred on the Kampala-Gulu highway in Kiryandongo district just after midnight, when two buses "met head-on during the overtaking manoeuvres", police said in a statement posted on X.

One of the drivers swerved in an attempt to avoid a collision, but instead caused "a chain reaction" which led to at least four other vehicles, including a truck and a land cruiser, "losing control and overturning several times", the statement said.

In an initial statement police, put the toll at 63 but later revised the number of dead down to 46, explaining: "At the time of the crash, several victims were found unconscious, and some may have been mistakenly included in the initial fatality count."

The statement said officials were working closely with health and emergency services, and more updates would be released as the situation developed.

Videos and photos published by local media showed the tangled metal of two large buses illuminated by rescue spotlights.

Those hurt had been taken to Kiryandongo Hospital and other nearby medical facilities, the statement said, but did not give any further details on the number injured or the extent of their wounds.

President Yoweri Museveni expressed his condolences to the families of those killed in the "tragic accident", and called on drivers to exercise more caution.

Ugandan police have consistently urged drivers to take extra care, but road accidents remain common.

The 2024 crime report noted a six percent increase in deadly crashes from the previous year, documenting 4,434 fatal collisions and 5,144 deaths.

In April this year, 10 people died in western Uganda after a bus lost control and overturned on a busy highway, and in August some 20 traders were killed after their truck overturned.

Only last year, 26 people were killed after a truck overturned, burst into flames, and exploded on the same Kampala-Gulu highway.

Two years ago, 21 people died and 49 were injured in a bus crash on the Kenya-Uganda border in January, just days after a passenger bus rammed into a stationary truck, killing 16.