INP-WealthPk

5 killed, 13 injured in northern Uganda road accident

January 24, 2020

KAMPALA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Five people have died and 13 others were injured after the taxi they were travelling in suffered a burst tire in the northern Ugandan district of Nwoya on Thursday.

Jimmy Okema, regional police spokesperson, told Xinhua he believed the accident was caused by speeding.

"A speeding taxi had a tyre burst at Kololo village along Karuma-Pakwach bridge, thereby rolling and causing the death of five people," Okema said, adding that the injured were rushed to the hospital shortly afterwards.

Uganda registers about 20,000 road accidents each year, with some 2,000 deaths, making it among the countries with the highest traffic death rates, according to police statistics.

The country's police attribute the high rate of road accidents to reckless driving, speeding, human error, drunk driving and overloading.