Kapchorwa: At least 23 pupils of King David Junior School Ndejje are feared dead following a road accident in Kapchorwa District on Thursday evening, as the pupils travelled for a field trip whose exact destination remained unclear at the time of the crash.
The accident occurred at around 8pm at Chekwatit village, Kimawa Parish, Kawowo Sub-county, when a bus branded Liberty Tour and Travel, registration number UA 108BQ, carrying the pupils in school uniform, was involved in the crash. Some reports indicated the pupils had been returning from a tour of Sipi Falls, though this detail had not been officially confirmed.
Eyewitness accounts shared on social media by a user identified as Cherop Mark indicated that preliminary reports pointed to 23 fatalities, with several other pupils sustaining injuries and receiving treatment at Kapchorwa General Hospital.
Photos circulated online showed the bus intact before the journey and its mangled wreckage at the crash scene afterward.
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The Uganda Police Force, through the Directorate of Traffic and Road Safety spokesperson Michael Kananura, confirmed the crash in a statement on social media, noting that emergency teams were working to establish the toll of dead and injured.
He said further details would be shared as they became available, and the exact number of fatalities and injuries had not yet been confirmed by police at the time of publication.
Investigations into the cause of the crash and the final casualty count remained ongoing.
The accident adds to a troubling pattern of school transport crashes recorded in Uganda in recent months. Days earlier, a bus belonging to Amuria High School, ferrying students of St. Paul Secondary School Katakwi on a geography study tour to Kasenyi Landing Site in Entebbe, collided with a stationary truck, killing the driver.
In May, a conductor aboard a Gulu Secondary School bus transporting students to Jinja for a school tour died in an accident at Kigumba.
Last week, one person died and several students were injured when a Friendship Bus carrying students of Mwebaza High School, Kakiri, to Jinja District for an educational trip collided with a train at Namumira-Bukasa village, Kyetume Parish, Nakisunga Sub-county, along Katosi Road in Mukono District.
Authorities have not yet issued a statement on measures to address the recurring accidents involving school transport, though pressure is expected to mount on school administrators and transport operators to review safety protocols for tours and educational trips.
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This is a developing story and will be updated as more details emerge.
