Kampala: Sixteen people were killed when a bus crashed into a parked lorry at night in northern Uganda’s Oyam district, police said Friday.
The victim was riding a commuter bus from the capital Kampala to Gulu when he was hit by a truck loaded with goods at the Adebe trading center, police said in a statement.
“Police traffic and general duties visited the scene shortly after receiving the report and confirmed that 11 people died at the scene and four others died in hospital,” the statement said, adding an unknown number of victims. It added that the injured were taken to a local hospital. Xinhua News Agency reported that he was in critical condition.
Another body was later found in the wreckage of the bus, bringing the toll to 16, according to the Uganda Red Cross.
Police said the cause of the accident had not yet been determined, but preliminary findings blamed the collision on improper parking by the truck driver who did not display warning signs.
There is growing public concern about the recent surge in the number of traffic accidents. In Uganda, 35 of the 149 victims involved in 104 road accidents across the country between December 30 and January 1, according to a police report issued on January 3. has died.
According to police data, around 20,000 road accidents occur nationwide in Uganda each year, killing more than 2,000 people. – Bernama
