7 killed, 10 injured in road accident in eastern Uganda

KAMPALA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed and 10 others critically injured in a Saturday road accident in the eastern Ugandan district of Soroti, a police spokesperson said.

Charles Ssebambulidde, the directorate of traffic and road safety spokesperson, told Xinhua by telephone that the fatal accident occurred after a truck carrying mainly cattle traders overturned at Opuyo, about 4 kilometers to Soroti town.

The cattle traders, mainly from Mbale, Bukedea, Kumi and Ngora towns, were travelling to the famous Otuboi cattle market in Kaberemaido district.

"The death toll is likely to go up. There are people who are seriously and critically injured," said Ssebambulidde.

"Our officers are at the scene to ascertain the exact cause of the accident," he said.

The spokesperson said both the injured and deceased have been transferred to Soroti hospital for treatment and postmortem respectively.

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