Ugandan national police launched a investigation Wednesday into a deadly multi-vehicle collision that killed 46 people on the main Kampala to Gulu Highway, one of the country’s busiest routes. File photo by Justin Lane/EPA-EFE
Dozens of people were killed and many injured in a multi-vehicle highway-smash in western Uganda after two buses collided head on in the early hours of Wednesday.
Initial reports on X from the Uganda Red Cross Society put the death toll at 63, but that figure was later revised down to 46 by police who said they had included some injured people by mistake.
Uganda Police Force said the crash in Kiryandongo, 125 miles north of Kampala on the main Kampala-Gulu Highway, occurred as each of the buses, which were traveling in opposite directions, were overtaking other vehicles, putting them on a collision course.
In swerving to one side, one of the buses instead precipitated a head-on collision, triggering a chain of events that caused a lorry and a car to lose control and flip over, said police.
The Uganda Red Cross said the swift action of its Kiryandongo emegency response team had saved lives.
At 12:15AM, a fatal crash on the Kampala-Gulu highway in Kiryandongo claimed 63 lives, with several others injured.@PoliceUg confirmed the toll.
Our emergency response team in Kiryandongo responded swiftly to save lives. We remain on standby for such emergencies! Call our… pic.twitter.com/U2cUU7iy0h— Uganda Red Cross Society (@UgandaRedCross) October 22, 2025
Police said they had opened a formal investigation and were working with local heatlh and emergency agencies in order to get definitive casualty numbers and be able to release accurate information.
President Yoweri Museveni, who expressed sadness at the news of the deadly accident and extended condolences to the loved-ones of those who died, ordered payouts of $1,430 and $286 to bereaved families and those injured, respectively.
Police warned drivers against “dangerous and careless overtaking,” saying such maneuvers were one of the country’s main causes of road accidents.
The accident occurred 10 days after at least 42 migrant workers were killed in South Africa when the bus they were riding to their homes in Zimbabwe and Malawi plunged down an embankment in a mountainous region in the north of the country.
The long-distance bus, which was bringing the workers from the industrial center of Port Elizabeth more than 900 miles away in the Eastern Cape, also crashed after dark.
