87 cheat death in accident involving three vehicles
Government spokesman Col (rtd) Cyrus Oguna accompanied by NTSA officials and police officers during a road safety and sensitization awareness to passengers, motorists and boda boda riders along the Nakuru- Eldoret highway on December 21, 2021. A bus carrying 68 passengers overturned along Kenol-Murang’a road on December 27.
At least 87 passengers in three vehicles cheated death when they were involved in an accident that left some of them nursing minor injuries.
The December 27 evening accident happened at Mbombo area along Kenol-Murang’a road in Murang’a South Sub County.
A bus traveling from Murang’a to Nairobi with 68 passengers - 58 adults and 10 children - swerved and skidded off the road before overturning as it avoided an oncoming 14-seater matatu.
"As he tried to avoid head-on collision, he swerved and skidded off the road and the bus overturned, landing in a ditch,” Murang’a South Police boss Alexander Shikondi.
Another small car with five occupants that was following the 14-seater also overturned metres ahead.
Mr Shikondi said the passengers in the bus suffered soft knocks.
“It was going uphill and its speed was less than 60 kilometres per hour. By the time it overturned, it was nearly stationery. The driver was trying to park it off the road but it skidded,” he said.
Ms Eunice Njambi 43, who was inside the bus, said she felt the bus go down slowly and she was for a brief moment suspended mid-air as it overturned.
“My hold on the seat got jerked off and I fell on a heap of other passengers, we were all screaming,” she said.
Some passengers were taken to Maragua and Murang’a hospitals with police saying none was admitted.
Mr Shikondi said: “There is an element of confusion on the roads occasioned by drivers under influence, in haste and others unfamiliar with the routes.”
He urged drivers to exercise caution especially during the festive season and desist from exceeding speed limits and exercise caution while overtaking.
