Four killed in Kakamega fuel tanker crash
Residents watched helplessly as the fire spread to nearby shops and burnt goods of undetermined value.
Four people died after a fuel tanker veered off the road, ploughed into a matatu and crashed into a power transformer before bursting into flames at Mukhonje along the Eldoret-Webuye road on Thursday.
The victims of the accident, who are yet to be identified, sustained severe burns.
Their bodies lay a short distance from the tanker which had been engulfed in flames in the 4pm accident in Lugari sub-county.
Two other vehicles, a Probox salon and a fuel truck. caught fire and were reduced to shells in the inferno that took firefighters from Uasin Gishu County more than two hours to contain.
The firefighters arrived at the scene after 2 hours and were busy looking for bodies in the rubble after it was feared the passengers in the matatu had been burnt to death.
Kakamega County Commander Mr Hassan Barua said four people had perished in the accident while seven others were injured.
Six of the injured were rushed to the Webuye County Hospital and one was admitted at the Lumakanda sub-county hospital.
Witnesses said the fuel tanker approached the trading centre at high speed and veered off the road after the driver lost control of the vehicle.
The tanker then hit the matatu before it crashed into poles supporting a transformer, igniting then fire.
Residents watched helplessly as the fire spread to nearby shops and burnt goods of undetermined value.
The accident caused a traffic snarl-up along the busy road stretching for several kilometres on both sides of the highway.
