The death toll from Tuesday night’s devastating head-on collision involving an Opit Travellers bus and a trailer along the Gulu-Kampala Highway has risen to 15, Uganda Radio Network has established.
The crash occurred at about 9:30 p.m. at Lwena Village in Bobi Sub-county, Omoro District, when an Opit Travellers bus travelling from Kampala to Gulu City collided head-on with a trailer heading in the opposite direction.
According to the Aswa West Regional Traffic Police, the deceased have been identified as bus driver Abdul Ismail, 55, a resident of Kiryandongo District; trailer driver Umaru Ahmed Hussein, 38, a Kenyan national; and Ahmed Aden of Mombasa, Kenya, who was travelling in the trailer.
The other victims are Justine Jesse Aguti, 23, of Koch Goma in Nwoya District; Bosco Ojok, 60, of Layibi Division in Gulu City; Harriet Ajok, 40, of Commercial Road in Gulu City; Stanley Odoch Uhuru, 37, of Laroo-Pece Division in Gulu City; Rose Apiyo, 41, of Laroo in Gulu City; Justine Ausi, 28, of Koch Ongako in Omoro District; John Paul Ojok, 49, of Gulu City; Walter Uhuru Odong, 37, of Koch Oyaro in Omoro District; John Watmon, 78, of Ongako, Koch Goma in Nwoya District; Godfrey Acire Kinyera, 35, of Layibi Division in Gulu City; Philip Maniriho, 30, of Tegwana Cell in Gulu City; and Musamin Kadara, 28, of Kirombe Cell in Layibi Division, Gulu City.
Police said at least 28 other people sustained injuries of varying severity and were rushed to health facilities in Gulu City for treatment. The injured include students, businesspeople and other passengers aboard the bus, as well as one passenger travelling in the trailer.
Uganda Radio Network has exclusively obtained the preliminary police investigation report, which indicates that the crash occurred after the bus driver allegedly attempted to avoid hitting a pedestrian who was crossing the highway.
According to the report, the driver was travelling at high speed when he swerved to avoid the pedestrian, lost control of the bus, crossed into the opposite lane and collided head-on with the oncoming trailer.
“The driver of motor vehicle registration number UBE 110H, an Isuzu bus, was driving at high speed from Kampala towards Gulu with an unspecified number of passengers on board.
On reaching Lwena Village, Bobi Sub-county, he allegedly tried to dodge a pedestrian crossing the road, lost control, left his lane and collided head-on with the oncoming trailer,” the preliminary police report states.
David Ongom Mudong, the Aswa West Regional Police spokesperson, said preliminary investigations point to reckless driving by the bus driver as the likely cause of the crash. By press time, all the injured had been evacuated to various health facilities in Gulu City, while the bodies of the deceased had been taken to the mortuaries at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor for postmortem examinations.
Walter Uryek-Wun, the Principal Assistant Secretary at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, said the hospital’s mortuary had received 12 bodies from the crash.
According to Uryek-Wun, 10 victims were brought in dead, while two others succumbed to their injuries after admission. He said eight of the deceased were male and four were female.
Uryek-Wun also disclosed that three of the deceased were Somali nationals, although police had so far officially identified two Kenyan nationals among those who died in the trailer.
Authorities are still working to verify the identities and nationalities of all foreign victims. The wreckage of both vehicles has been towed to Bobi Police Station for mechanical inspection as investigations continue.
The crash is among the deadliest road accidents recorded in northern Uganda this year and has renewed calls for stricter enforcement of road safety regulations, particularly on the busy Kampala-Gulu highway, which is frequently used by long-distance buses and heavy cargo trucks.
Uganda continues to register a rise in road traffic crashes. According to the 2025 Annual Police Crime Report, serious road crashes increased by 3.3 percent, from 13,134 cases in 2024 to 13,563 in 2025. Fatal crashes rose by 3.8 percent, from 4,434 to 4,602, while minor crashes increased by 4.5 percent, from 7,539 to 7,879 over the same period-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
