16 killed after bus rams into truck in northern Uganda

KAMPALA — Sixteen people have died when a bus crashed into a stationary truck at night in the northern Ugandan district of Oyam, police said on Friday.

The victims were traveling in the commuter bus from the capital, Kampala, to Gulu, when the vehicle ran into the truck loaded with goods at Adebe trading center, police said in a statement. “Police traffic and general duty visited the scene immediately on receiving the report and confirmed 11 people died on spot while four others died from the hospital,” the statement said, adding that an unidentified number of injured were rushed to a local hospital, some in critical condition. Another body was found later in the bus wreckage, bringing the toll to 16, according to Uganda Red Cross Society. Police said the cause of the accident is yet to be established, but preliminary findings blamed the crash on improper parking by the trailer driver who failed to put up any warning sign.

There have been public concerns about a recent spike in the number of road accidents. A police report issued on Jan. 3 showed that Uganda registered 35 deaths out of the 149 victims that were involved in 104 road accidents in the country from Dec. 30 to Jan. 1. Uganda registers some 20,000 road accidents nationwide each year, causing more than 2,000 deaths, according to police data