Kampala, Uganda — Two buses and two other vehicles crashed early Wednesday on a highway in western Uganda, killing at least 46 people, police said, in one of the worst motor accidents in the East African country in recent years.
Police initially gave the death toll as 63 in a statement sent to reporters, but later revised it to 46, saying in another statement that some people found unconscious at the crash scene were actually still alive.
“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.
The accident happened shortly after midnight local time on the highway from Kampala, the capital, to Gulu, a major city in northern Uganda.
Two bus drivers going in opposite directions tried to pass other vehicles and collided head-on, according to police. Four vehicles were involved in all.
The scene after a multi-vehicle accident including two buses killed dozens of people on a Uganda highway early on Oct. 22, 2025. / Credit: Uganda Police Force, on X
“One of the (bus) drivers swerved in an attempt to avoid collision, but this resulted in a head-on and side collision, causing a chain reaction that led to other vehicles losing control and overturning several times,” the statement continued.
“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,” police said.
Fatal road crashes are common in Uganda, 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 and 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 passing and speeding accounted for 44.5% of all crashes documented in 2024, the police’s latest crime report said.
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 latest crash 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 total absence of enforcement. What’s happening on the roads is anarchy.”
Beyanga, campaigning as Joe Walker, organizes regular walks from Kampala into the countryside that are often attended by hundreds of followers.
His next event, planned for next month, will be a walk of more than 37 miles in memory of hundreds of thousands killed or maimed in road crashes over the years, he said.
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