At least five passengers died on the spot, and six others sustained critical injuries in a road accident on Sunday night involving a passenger taxi and a milk truck along the Kampala–Gulu highway.
The collision occurred at around 8:30 p.m. at Kyalweza village in Nakasongola district, involving a Toyota Hiace taxi, registration number UA 415AV, heading to Kigumba, and a Nissan milk truck, registration number UBL 615T, en route to Kampala.
According to Savannah regional police spokesperson Sam Twineamazima, preliminary findings indicate that the taxi driver, who was reportedly speeding, lost control and crashed head-on into the truck.
Twineamazima said the bodies of the deceased were taken to Nakasongola health centre IV for postmortem, while six others with serious injuries were rushed to Nakasongola health centre IV and Kiryandongo hospital for treatment.
The wreckage of both vehicles was towed to Katuugo police station as investigations continued. As of Monday morning, police were still working to identify the deceased and injured victims.
The Greater Luwero region, which includes Nakasongola, remains one of Uganda’s most accident-prone areas. A recent police traffic report recorded 46 road crashes in the region between September 26 and October 29, 2024, resulting in 21 deaths and 36 serious injuries.
Police attribute most crashes in the region to dangerous overtaking, reckless parking, poor vehicle lighting, narrow roads, and obstructions by heavy trucks. Authorities have renewed calls for greater caution by motorists, particularly along high-risk stretches of the Kampala–Gulu highway.
This is what I keep yapping about , the citizenry is still sleepy(babongota), you might find that at least one passenger cautioned the driver about over speeding and five others defended the driver’s over speeding .
Leading to what you have witnessed…if the citizenry cannot handle small issues like threatening to abandon the taxi if the driver does not drive sanely, then how can they handle big issues related to governance?
So sad but avoidable…
Why do you find 2 or more passengers on a boda or an overloaded taxi or matatu? The clients are to blame. I refused an an extra person and was ordered to leave the matatu and nobody said anything. In fact you see them squeezing themselves to make room. Another time I complained about overspeed and the conductor insulted me and said that the person who issued the driver the driving permit was not stupid. Blame the clients who accept this reckless behavior. Talk about traffic police useless they just look on as long as they get their kintu kidogo.
But in this accident the police reported 5 but 11 people died