KAMPALA, Uganda — A school bus filled with young students returning from an educational field trip in Uganda veered off the road and flipped over Thursday night, leaving at least 20 children and one adult dead, according to police.
The crash took place in the Kapchorwa District in eastern Uganda. The students had been visiting Sipi Falls, a scenic waterfall in the region, when the bus went off the road on the way back. The Uganda Police Force shared details of the incident in a statement posted on social media.
Three adults and multiple children who survived the crash were transported to various hospitals for treatment. Police did not immediately provide a precise count of those injured.
At least nine of the children were listed in critical condition, according to Ugandan Minister of Local Government Balaam Barugahara Ateenyi, who posted about the tragedy on social media. He also noted that the adult who was killed appeared to be the founder and head of the school.
Barugahara said that residents living near the crash site stepped up as first responders, helping to get injured children to hospitals and doing what they could to assist victims in the immediate aftermath.
Police identified the bus as belonging to King David Junior School, an elementary school located in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city.
According to the preliminary police report, the driver lost control of the vehicle, which then struck a rock and overturned. Authorities stressed that the exact cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Images released by police showed the bus lying on its side with the roof completely torn away, seats twisted and mangled, and clothing and luggage scattered across the road.
Deadly road accidents are a persistent problem in Uganda, frequently attributed to poorly maintained vehicles, speeding, and deteriorating road conditions — challenges shared across much of the African continent. Earlier this month, at least 14 people lost their lives when a bus collided with a truck in a remote part of northern Uganda.
Africa holds the worst road safety record globally, with more than 300,000 people killed in road crashes each year and approximately 26 deaths per 100,000 people. By comparison, Europe — which sees far heavier road traffic — records around 20,000 road deaths annually, or about nine per 100,000 people, according to figures from the World Health Organization and the United Nations.
