Sugarcane trucks turn into death traps on Jinja-Kamuli highway

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A moneylender died on the spot, while the driver and his conductor were rushed to Mulago Hospital in critical condition after a taxi they were travelling in rammed into a stationary sugarcane truck.

The crash on March 21, 2026, at Kagoma hill in Kagoma town council on the Jinja–Kamuli highway involved a Kampala-bound taxi, registration number UA 961CR, which was coming from Buwenge town council, and a truck, UBL 132M, which had developed a mechanical fault.

Traffic Police officers and locals at the Buwenge Health Centre IV morgue where Kalanga's body was taken for postmortem. (Photo by Jackie Nambogga)

Clovis Ssematimba, one of the locals who responded to the incident, said they used axes and metal bars to rescue those trapped in the wreckage, especially those seated in the front and nearby seats.

Andrew Kanywanyi, the Jinja district internal security officer, who was heading to Jinja city for a function at Jinja Senior Secondary School, said he was forced to stop after seeing a traffic officer guarding a sugarcane truck in the middle of the road.

As he alighted, he was met with broken glass and blood stains on the rear side of the truck, before being briefed about a crash that had occurred earlier.

Kanywanyi headed to Buwenge General Hospital, where health workers said the driver and his conductor had been referred to Jinja Regional Referral Hospital, which in turn referred them to Mulago Hospital in critical condition.

The late Happy Kalanga, 20, a money lender in Buwenge town council who died on spot in a motor crash. (Courtesy photo)

He then proceeded to Buwenge Health Centre IV, where Lazaro Mugweri, one of the survivors, had been rushed after sustaining a cut on his left ear, along with bruises and a swollen neck.

Mugweri, who was returning to his job in Kampala after celebrating Eid El-Fitr with his family in Buwenge, could not explain how their vehicle got involved in the accident.

Kanywanyi refuted earlier information by local radio stations that had reported seven deaths, clarifying that only Happy Kalanga, a 20-year-old moneylender from Buwenge town council, had died.

Dr Collin Waigolo, in charge of Buwenge Health Centre IV, also confirmed that they received only Kalanga’s body, noting that she had died at the scene.

“We only have one body at our facility, and we received her when she was dead,” he said.

Waigolo said the deceased suffered a skull fracture, adding that both shoulders were crushed, which affected major blood vessels.

“If these vessels are crushed, a victim cannot survive,” Waigolo said.

Joan Kalanga, the deceased’s elder sister, who runs a dairy shop in Buwenge town council, said the deceased had been travelling to Entebbe to check on their ailing paternal aunt.

The seventh-born among 10 children will be buried at their ancestral home in Bukanga village, Ndinzi subcounty in Isingiro district on Monday, March 23, 2026.

Meanwhile, Moses Batwala, the Jinja LC5 chairperson, expressed concern over the increasing number of accidents along the highway caused by sugarcane trucks that break down in the middle of the road.

A woman showing journalists the injuries which Lazaro Mugweri sustained on his left ear at Buwenge Health Centre IV in Jinja district. (Photo by Jackie Nambogga)

He said police rarely respond to tow such vehicles, leaving them as hazards to pedestrians and motorists.

Batwala noted that this was the second crash involving a sugarcane truck within a week, following an earlier incident that claimed the life of Emmanuel Muvawala, 37, a mobile money agent in Buwenge town council.

Muvawala, who was riding a motorcycle, registration number UEY 172B, was crushed to death by a speeding truck after losing control at Mutai trading centre on the same highway.