Uganda school bus crash kills pupils on field trip, dozens injured

Ugandan police confirmed fatalities after a school bus carrying pupils from King David Junior School, Ndejje, crashed in Chekwatiti Village in Kawowo Sub-county, Kapchorwa District, eastern Uganda. Dozens of others, including school staff, were injured as the children travelled on a field trip.

Rescue crews were still working at the scene when officials had not immediately released casualty figures. The bus was suspected to have suffered a mechanical fault, turning a school excursion into a mass-casualty crash on a route that should have been routine.

The wreck has put school transport safety back at the center of public debate in Uganda. The country launched a National Guide for Establishment of Safe School Zones in 2025, part of a wider push to make school routes safer, but the Kapchorwa crash shows how vulnerable pupils remain when buses are sent out over long distances and basic mechanical checks fail.

The crash also fits a pattern that parents and schools have warned about for years. After a previous bus crash killed two pupils, parents asked the government to ban night travel during school tours. In Mityana, another school-bus crash killed two pupils and injured 11, showing that the risks are not confined to one district or one school.