KAMPALA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed on the spot and three others critically injured in a Tuesday night road accident in the central Ugandan district of Nakasongola, a police spokesperson said Wednesday.
Patrick Onyango, Uganda's deputy police spokesperson, told Xinhua in an interview that the fatal accident involved a saloon car, a truck and a motorcycle rider at Namayonjo along the Gulu-Kampala Highway at around 22:50 hours, local time.
"Five unidentified people have been so far confirmed dead. Three people were severely injured and taken to the army hospital in Nakasongola," said Onyango.
He said the cause of the accident was over speeding. The saloon car knocked the motorcycle before ramming into the truck.
The accident paralyzed traffic along the busy Kampala-Gulu Highway as the police and rescue team cleared the wreckage.
Onyango said the bodies of the deceased have been taken to Nakasongola Health Centre for a postmortem and identification.
At least some seven accidents have been registered along the Kampala-Gulu Highway, killing over 30 people in less than three weeks.
Uganda registers at least 20,000 accidents with over 2,000 deaths each year, making it one of the countries with the highest road accident fatality rates in the world, according to police statistics.