A school bus carrying pupils back from a study trip overturned on a hillside road in eastern Uganda on Thursday evening, killing 20 children and one adult, according to police and local officials. The bus, from King David Junior School in Ndejje, crashed at around 20:00 local time in Chekwatit village, Kapchorwa district. The adult fatality was identified by Uganda’s minister of local government as Tadeo Ssekade, the school’s founder and director. Dozens of other passengers, including school staff, were injured.

Preliminary investigations indicate the bus suffered a mechanical fault before the driver lost control on Chekwatit Hill, a stretch known for serious crashes. “The driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle, which veered off the road, struck a large stone along the roadside, and overturned,” a police statement said. Eyewitness video showed the badly damaged bus and local residents rushing to assist the injured children. The pupils had been returning from a visit to Sipi Falls, a tourist area, local media reported.

The crash is the latest in a series of deadly road accidents across the region. In Ghana, a three-vehicle collision on the Kumasi-Accra highway at Odumase, near Konongo, killed at least 14 people and injured more than 30 on Wednesday night. Police said a cargo truck laden with tomatoes attempted to overtake, lost control, and collided head-on with an oncoming passenger bus; an empty fuel tanker was also drawn into the wreckage. The death toll rose after a body was discovered at the scene the following day, and medical officers reported that 32 victims, including nine children, were stabilised at Akim Central Municipal Hospital. Separately, on the Goaso–Mim Highway in Ghana’s Ahafo Region, passers-by rescued injured victims from a crashed Mercedes-Benz Sprinter before fire service personnel arrived, according to the Ghana National Fire Service.

Road traffic accidents are common in Uganda and across the continent. Ugandan police data recorded 4,434 crashes in 2024, resulting in 5,144 deaths. Speeding, poorly maintained vehicles, and dangerous roads are cited by traffic authorities as leading causes. In Ghana, residents near the Odumase crash site have called for completion of an abandoned bypass project to reduce carnage on that highway. Investigations into all three incidents are ongoing, and authorities caution that provisional death tolls may rise as several injured remain in critical condition.