Four dead in grisly Busia road accident

Four people died Tuesday morning and nine others were seriously injured in a grisly road accident at Rangala area along Kisumu-Busia highway involving a Nissan matatu and lorry.

Confirming the incident, Ugunja OCPD Samwel Kosgei said the matatu was headed to Ugunja from Kisumu while the lorry was from Busia when the accident took place.

Reports indicated that the driver of the matatu was trying to overtake when he collided with the lorry, which swerved off the road to avoid hitting it.

The OCPD said that among the deceased were four women passengers while the driver of the matatu was among the injured.

According to a victim of the accident, Ruth Aketch, who had boarded the matatu in Mutumbu, the matatu was carrying excess passengers and the driver was over speeding.

However, the driver of the lorry, Victor Chelule, said the major cause of the accident was a bus that was parked at the roadside, which he claimed had obstructed part of the road.

“I urge drivers plying the Kisumu-Busia highway to be wary of the spot where the accident occurred it has been marked as a black spot, ”urged Kosgei.

Meanwhile, one person died after an oil tanker collided with two Lorries before bursting into flames at Manyani area on the busy Mombasa-Nairobi highway Tuesday morning.

Confirming the incident, Voi OCPD Joshua Lutukai said the driver of one of the Lorries that was carrying wheat was burnt beyond recognition during the accident that disrupted traffic on the busy highway.

According to Lutukai, two other people sustained serious injuries and were rushed to the Moi Referral Hospital in Voi for treatment.

A third lorry is also said to have overturned after it hit the two that had collided.

Lutukai is now cautioning drivers using the road to be wary during the festive season, especially during the ongoing El Nino rains.

This comes just a day after a mother and her one-week-old infant were killed in a grisly road accident involving a lorry, saloon car and motorcycle on the Kericho-Ikonge road.

The crash, which took place close to at Roret Trading Center, saw another woman and her child sustain serious injuries.

Bureti OCPD Ali Abdullahi confirmed the incident saying the accident happened after the lorry, which was heading towards Kericho, hit the boda boda from the rear.

In November, the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) revealed that private cars are the number one cause of deaths on Kenyan roads. Commercial vehicles were second while public vehicles come third.

In September, NTSA reported that about 1,899 lives were lost through road accidents between January and August this year, with 60 per cent of these being pedestrian and boda boda riders’ deaths.