Uganda school bus crash kills 20 children and 1 adult

Uganda halts school trips after bus crashes returning from waterfall field trip; at least a dozen also injured.

‌Twenty schoolchildren have been killed after the bus carrying them ⁠crashed ⁠on the way back from an educational field trip in eastern Uganda, authorities said.

Uganda suspended school outings on Friday after the crash, which also killed one adult on Thursday night.

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Three other adults and more than a dozen children were also injured, officials said.

The bus belonging to the King David Junior School was returning to the capital, Kampala, after a trip to Sipi Falls when the accident occurred, the Uganda Police Force said on X.

The crash took place near Chekwatit village ⁠in Kapchorwa district, police added.

Preliminary investigations suggested the driver lost control, and the bus veered off the road and turned ‌over after hitting a large stone, police said.

Ugandan Minister of Local Government Balaam Barugahara Ateenyi said on X that more than 28 children were being treated in hospitals, nine of them in critical condition.

Officials have not yet released the names or ages of the children killed. The adult who died is believed to be the school’s founder and head.

Residents arrived before official rescue teams and began carrying victims away from the wreckage, according to footage released by the Uganda Red Cross Society. Some survivors were brought to hospitals in pick-up trucks.

The village where police said the crash occurred is near the Uganda-Kenya border, some 300km (186 miles) from Kampala.

The government announced a suspension of “all school trips and excursions, effective immediately ⁠and until further notice”.

Uganda experiences frequent deadly crashes. Its roads are among the most dangerous in a region with the world’s worst safety record. Crashes are often linked to speeding, poorly maintained vehicles and bad road conditions.

Earlier this month alone, 14 people were killed when a bus and truck collided in a remote area of northern Uganda.

In October, 46 people were killed when several vehicles, including two buses, collided on the Kapala-Gulu highway.