Forty dead after two busses collide in Uganda

At least forty people have been killed in a head-on collision of two buses which led to a multiple vehicles crashing into each other at night on the Kampala-Gulu highway in western Uganda.

Mangled metal and burnt out vehicles were visible on the roadside.

The death toll could rise with reports of several more people unaccounted for

Two busses, going in opposite directions, hit head-on at just after midnight on the high speed road when both were trying to overtake other traffic.

The smash caused drivers of other cars to lose control and hit each other in a multiple vehicle collision.

Dangerous overtaking at speed is a common cause of accidents in Uganda.

East Africa generally has a bad road safety record but this was a particularly "gruesome" accident, according to the Red Cross, who described wounded passengers walking away dripping with blood and with broken limbs.

Survivors have been taken to hospital.