10 killed in gruesome road accident in Tana River

Ten people were killed in Tana River County on Friday morning after a bus they were travelling in rammed into a stalled trailer on the Garissa-Mwingi road. 

Eight passengers died on the spot while two others died at Garissa Referral Hospital while receiving treatment. 

Bangale Sub County Police Commander Ephraim Karimi said the bus from Mandera had over fifty passengers on board.

The Bangale police chief said a four-year-old boy was among the dead, while Mohamed Abdi, 5, survived the accident but lost his mother in the crash. 

Ten other passengers have been admitted to Garissa County Referral Hospital. 

"At about 1:30am, a bus from Mandera to Nairobi was involved in an accident at Katumba area towards Mwingi, it is unfortunate that we lost eight people on the spot," said Mr Karimi. 

The sub-county police chief said the bus, christened Al-Mukaram, rammed into a stalled trailer, ripping off its left side.

"The trailer was carrying gypsum and had broken down and was parked on the side of the road. It seems that the bus driver was speeding at the time of the accident," said Mr Karimi.

The driver, who survived with injuries, will give a statement to the police once he is discharged from hospital, Mr Karimi said.

The bodies at Garissa County Referral Hospital have since been identified and the Kenya Red Cross was in the process of contacting their families when this writer visited.

"The accident was unfortunate and I am yet to know exactly what happened. The vehicle was in good condition," said Mr Bardad Mohamed, the owner of the Al-Mukaram bus company.

The company is known for changing the name of its buses whenever they are involved in accidents to avoid paying compensation to passengers.

It started as Tawakali before moving to Makkah, and after the 2014 massacre of teachers by suspected al-Shabaab militants and other accidents, it changed its name to Al-Mukaram.

Destination was Nairobi's Eastleigh

Most of the passengers had boarded the bus whose destination was Nairobi's Eastleigh estate in Mandera town, Rhamu and Elwak.

Garissa Referral Hospital Chief Administrator Mahat Salah said the facility had received eight bodies from the scene with thirteen critically injured victims.

 "Most of the victims have been stabilised but we lost two who were in critical condition," he said.

The hospital responded to the incident by mobilising medical staff after midnight and sending ambulances to the scene.

"We have casualties who are being treated and some will undergo surgery and amputations," Mr Mahat said.

Mr Abdirahman Mohamed, a survivor, said he was asleep when the accident happened.

"I cannot say exactly what happened, I had a loud bang when I felt some extreme shaking and crying from passengers," he said.

He said the impact threw him out of the bus through a window.

Mr Ibrahim Guracha, who was admitted to the male ward, told how the driver tried to overtake a vehicle before the bus hit the trailer.

He said that when he arrived at the scene of the accident, the driver of the bus tried to overtake an another vehicle and when he tried to return to his lane to avoid a head-on collision, he rammed into the back of a trailer carrying gypsum. The other vehicle did not stop after the accident.

Mr Guracha boarded the ill-fated bus at Elwak town in Mandera at 11am on Thursday to visit a relative in Nairobi.

"A post-mortem is underway for the dead and the bodies will be handed over to relatives for burial according to Islamic rites," said Mr Karimi, the police chief.