Uganda school bus crash death toll rises to 24

Updated 26 August 2026 — Ugandan police have confirmed that 24 people died after a school bus carrying pupils and staff of King David Junior School crashed near Chekwatit village in eastern Uganda at about 20:00 local time on 16 July. The Uganda Police Force said the latest toll includes the bus driver and supersedes the initial count of 20 children and one adult reported on 17 July.

The Isuzu bus was returning to Kampala from an educational visit to Sipi Falls when it left the Kapchorwa–Mbale road, struck a large roadside stone and overturned, according to the police’s preliminary account. The Associated Press reported on 17 July, citing police and Local Government Minister Balaam Barugahara Ateenyi, that more than 28 children had received hospital treatment and nine were then in critical condition.

Residents reached the wreckage before organised rescue teams and transported some survivors in private vehicles, according to footage supplied to the Associated Press by the Uganda Red Cross Society. Police initially sent the injured to Kaserem Health Centre IV, Kapchorwa General Hospital and Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, the state-owned Uganda Broadcasting Corporation reported.

The government suspended school trips and excursions nationwide after the crash, the Uganda Police Force said. Its 20 July update clarified that the restriction applies to vehicles carrying learners on school outings, not to ordinary public bus services. Unclaimed bodies were transferred to Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala to support identification and other procedures, according to the same update.

Police have not published final findings on why the driver lost control. The identities and final age breakdown of all 24 victims were also absent from the force’s public update. Those gaps make the official total more reliable than attempts to derive a revised number of child victims from earlier reports.

The crash sits within a wider road-safety emergency. The World Health Organization estimated 7,315 road deaths in Uganda in 2021, compared with 4,159 recorded deaths, and identified road injuries as a leading cause of death among young Ugandans.

There is no reported direct impact on Belgium. The event nevertheless concerns Belgian residents with family, school or travel connections to Uganda, while Belgian travellers should continue to follow official transport and travel advice. The next substantive development will be the police investigation report and government guidance on when school excursions can resume.