Five killed in Thursday Murang'a accident
Thursday's road accident between Murang'a and Kenol that left five people dead and two others critically injured.
Five people died in Murang'a County on Thursday lunchtime after a private car collided with a trailer on the Kenol-Murang'a road.
Two others - a man and a woman - were rushed to hospital with serious injuries, said Murang'a South Deputy County Commissioner Gitonga Murungi.
"At about noon, we were unfortunately struck by a serious tragedy that left five men dead on the spot and two others seriously injured," he said.
The deaths brought the total number of people killed in accidents on the same route to 14 in less than a week.
Mr Murungi said the private car had seven passengers and was travelling from Murang'a towards Kenol.
"At a place called Kagurumo stage, the car hit a trailer that was heading towards Murang'a and was involved in a head-on collision that left this devastation," he said.
Mr Murungi said the dead were taken to Murang'a County mortuary while the vehicles involved in the accident were towed to Maragua police station.
"We have now started a situation analysis to understand exactly what went wrong. We are also in the process of identifying the victims," he said.
The accident comes barely a week after nine others died on the same route in 12 hours.
Four youths died instantly
The first accident occurred on Sunday morning in Kabati Township, where four youths died instantly after their car was hit from behind.
Murang'a County Police Commander Mathiu Kainga told the Nation that the accident involved three vehicles travelling from Kenol town to Nairobi.
"The youths were travelling in a small car and we have established that they were members of the African Independent Pentecostal Churches of Africa (AIPCA) returning from a mission in Meru County," he said.
The AIPCA's presiding archbishop in Kenya, Samson Muthuri, said in a statement that the dead were members of Makongeni church in Thika West sub-county.
Less than 12 hours later, four more people died in another four-vehicle accident a few kilometres from the scene.
Kiambu County police commander Michael Muchiri said the four died in Ndarugo area in Juja sub-county.
"Two cars were first hit by a trailer and as rescue efforts were in full swing, a school van sped into the scene and rammed into them, killing three people on the spot," he said.
Mr Muchiri said the driver of the van was also killed.
Mr Muchiri said the motorcyclist from the nearby Del Monte pineapple processor, who was on normal patrol against a gang stealing produce from the company, was crushed to death by a trailer.
"We have since identified the man as Gideon Maluki, who was killed in the line of duty on Monday morning. The accident occurred at the British American Tobacco stage near Makongeni," he said.
