21 Confirmed Dead As School Bus Overturns In Eastern Uganda
A school bus carrying children on an educational excursion veered off the road in eastern Uganda on Thursday evening, killing at least 20 pupils and one adult in Kapchorwa District.
The bus, an Isuzu vehicle registered as UA 108BQ, belonged to King David Junior School in Ndejje, Makindye Division, Kampala. It was returning from a school trip to Sipi Falls in Kapchorwa District when the driver reportedly lost control, veered off the road, struck a large stone along the roadside, and overturned, according to preliminary police investigations.
The Uganda Police Force confirmed the fatalities in a statement posted on X on Friday. “The crash claimed the lives of one adult male and 20 pupils, while three adult males and several juveniles sustained injuries,” the statement read.
Local Government Minister Balaam Barugahara Ateenyi confirmed that the deceased adult was the founder and director of the school, Mr Tadeo Ssekade. In a post on X, the minister extended condolences to the families and the entire King David community. He also visited the injured at various medical facilities alongside Minister of State for Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations Simon Mulongo.
Several survivors were rushed to Kaserem Health Centre IV, Kapchorwa General Hospital, and Mbale Regional Referral Hospital for medical treatment. Police shared an image of the badly mangled and overturned bus and said investigations were ongoing.
The tragedy comes amid growing concerns over road safety in Uganda. According to the Uganda Police annual crime report released in March, the country recorded 26,044 road crashes in 2025, up from 25,107 in 2024. Of those, 4,602 were fatal, claiming more than 5,300 lives. Police attribute more than 40 percent of crashes to reckless driving, including speeding, dangerous overtaking, and tailgating.
The crash follows a May incident involving a Gulu Secondary School bus in Kigumba that killed a conductor and injured 17 students, and another crash in Gomba District that claimed six people travelling to a wedding. In October, two buses collided on a major highway, killing at least 46 people.
The succession of fatal crashes has intensified calls for the rollout of the revised Electronic Penalty System (EPS), which uses cameras and automated number plate recognition technology to detect speeding and other traffic violations in real time. The government says the system will complement about 2,000 traffic officers policing Uganda’s rapidly growing vehicle population, with officials arguing that continuous automated enforcement is essential to reducing preventable road deaths.