KAMPALA, Uganda — Fourteen people were killed and four others injured when a passenger taxi collided with a sand-laden truck late Monday night in Lwera Swamp along the Kampala–Masaka Highway, police said.
The crash happened at around 11:00 p.m. on August 3 at Kamunga Trading Centre in Kalungu District and involved a Toyota Hiace taxi, registration number UA 662AQ, and a Sino truck, registration number UBS 040F, that was transporting sand.
All 14 who died were passengers in the taxi and were pronounced dead at the scene. “Fourteen people died on the spot, all from the taxi,” said Twaha Kasirye, the Greater Masaka regional police spokesperson.
The four injured comprise two occupants of the taxi and two from the truck. They were rushed to Masaka Regional Referral Hospital for treatment.
Traffic officers visited and documented the scene as investigations into the cause of the collision continue. Police said efforts were underway to trace the truck driver, who fled after the crash.
The stretch through Lwera has become one of the deadliest on the corridor, a low-lying wetland section carrying heavy night-time freight traffic, much of it sand trucks serving the mining sites that line the swamp. The latest deaths follow a June crash on the neighbouring Masaka–Kyotera highway in which a speeding truck rammed a parked taxi at Botero Trading Centre, killing five people.
Road carnage remains a national concern. Police recorded 26,044 road traffic crashes across the country in 2025, according to figures released in April by the director of traffic and road safety, Lawrence Nuwabiine.
