Five dead, 20 injured in grisly road accident

Five people died on the spot while 20 others were injured in a tragic road accident at Silanga Mbuu area in Salama, Makueni county along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway on Tuesday night.

The accident occurred after a lorry moving towards Nairobi hit the bus that was headed in the opposite direction.

According to Salama traffic boss Joseph Nyasili, the trailer had overtaken another vehicle before losing control and hitting the bus on the side, killing its driver and four passengers on the spot.

The injured were taken to Sultan Hamud Hospital for treatment, and the bodies of the deceased moved to the Machakos Level 5 hospital mortuary.

This comes just days after two students of Nairobi’s Cooperative University College were crushed to death and more than 30 others injured when a bus overturned at the institution.

Witnesses said scores of students were riding on the bus’ roof while others hung on the sides during student leadership campaigns when the accident occurred.

In September 2015, a report by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) showed that about 1,899 people had lost their lives in road accidents between January and August 2015.

Early August 2015, NTSA had said the number of Kenyans who had lost their lives in road accidents stood at 1,700 as compared to 2014, which was around 1,500.

Kenyans have been asked to observe traffic laws as they go about their day-to-day activities.