Uganda suspends school trips after bus crash kills 21 near Sipi Falls

Uganda suspended all school trips after a school bus carrying pupils from King David Junior School in Kampala veered off the road near Sipi Falls and overturned in eastern Uganda, killing at least 20 children and one adult. Police said the crash happened Thursday night in Kapchorwa District after the driver lost control, struck a large stone along the roadside and flipped the bus.

Police spokesperson Michael Kananura said the vehicle was bringing pupils back from an educational tour to the scenic waterfall when it crashed. The children had traveled from the capital to Sipi Falls in Kapchorwa District, turning a school outing into one of the country’s deadliest road accidents involving children in recent years.

The government moved quickly to suspend all school trips after the crash, a response that exposes how fragile school transport has become on Uganda’s roads. Parents had already been pressing officials to ban night travel during school tours after another crash killed two pupils, a warning that had not yet translated into wider protection before Thursday’s deaths.

The latest wreck adds to a broader pattern of fatal school transport crashes. On July 14, 2026, a bus carrying 73 students from Amuria High School on a geography tour crashed in Bugweri District, killing the driver and injuring 15 students. That collision, like the one near Sipi Falls, has sharpened scrutiny of vehicle condition, driver oversight and the risks children face on long-distance trips after dark.

Uganda records thousands of road deaths each year, but this crash has put school travel at the center of the debate. The immediate suspension of trips addresses the most visible symptom, yet it leaves open the harder questions of whether officials will tighten standards on school buses, enforce safer driving hours and strengthen emergency response before the next group of children boards a bus.