At least 46 people were killed in a bus crash involving multiple vehicles in central Uganda, the police said on Wednesday, one of the deadliest road accidents in the East African country in decades.
The crash took place overnight on the main highway between the capital, Kampala, and the northern city of Gulu.
Uganda’s police force said that two buses driving in opposite directions were both attempting to overtake other vehicles on the two-lane highway, near the village of Kitaleba. That resulted in a “head-on and side collision, causing a chain reaction that led to other vehicles losing control and overturning several times,” the police said in a statement on social media.
In addition to the dead, the statement added, “several” people were injured in the crash.
Deadly bus crashes are common in Uganda, like many other countries in Africa. Among the causes are poorly maintained roads and vehicles, an absence of streetlights and drivers who lack adequate training.
The area where the accident happened is even narrower than most highways in Uganda, according to Joseph Beyanga, a road safety advocate in the country.
“When big trucks are overtaking each other, there’s hardly any space left,” he explained.
Around 12 people die in traffic accidents in the country each day, according to Ugandan government statistics.
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