A bus filled with young schoolchildren returning from a holiday outing has veered off a highway in Uganda, killing twenty pupils and one adult.
Local police confirmed the tragic incident on Friday, highlighting the country's notoriously poor track record for safety on the roads. Major accidents involving buses and large commercial lorries happen frequently across the East African nation due to poorly maintained infrastructure.
The vehicle was carrying pupils from King David Junior School, which is based in the capital city of Kampala. The children were making their way back from a school excursion to Sipi Falls in the Kapchorwa District when the vehicle left the tarmac.
According to early findings from the police investigation, the driver lost control of the vehicle. The bus then careened off the side of the road, struck a large boulder by the wayside, and flipped upside down.
A statement released by the authorities on social media confirmed that the impact claimed the lives of one adult man and twenty young pupils. Three other adult men and several children suffered injuries during the collision.
Officials shared pictures of the severely damaged and overturned vehicle online, adding that investigations into the exact cause of the crash are still going on. A significant number of injured adults and children are currently receiving emergency medical treatment at a local hospital.
Severe coach accidents are a regular occurrence on the regional road network. Last October, a head-on collision between two large buses on a main highway resulted in the deaths of at least forty-six travellers.
Official figures released in a national report indicated that the country suffered more than four thousand fatal collisions in a single year, leading to over five thousand deaths on the roads.
