The Ugandan police have confirmed that 46 people have died after several vehicles crashed on a major highway in Uganda, revising an earlier death toll of 63.
The police say they had mistakenly included victims who were unconscious in their initial fatality count.
The crash occurred when two buses travelling in opposite directions “met head on” while trying to overtake two other vehicles, a lorry and a car, on the Kampala-Gulu Highway at 00:15 local time (21:15 GMT), the Uganda Police Force said.
One of the buses swerved in an attempt to avoid a crash, but in the process caused a “head-on and side collision” that led to a “chain reaction” in which other vehicles lost control and overturned.
As well as the fatalities, the passengers of the vehicles involved and several others were injured, police said. An investigation has been launched.
The injured have been taken to different hospitals in the western town of Kiryandongo.
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Regional Police spokesperson Julius Hakiiza attributed the crash to a bus that was “trying to overtake.”
He told the BBC it had collided head-on “with another bus that was coming from a different direction”.
Four vehicles were involved in the accident, he added.
The highway between the capital Kampala in the south and the northern city of Gulu is one of the country’s busiest.
Following the crash, police have urged motorists to avoid “dangerous and careless overtaking”.
It said this “remains one of the leading causes of crashes in the country“.
