One dead, 13 injured in notorious River Nithi accident

One person died and 13 others were injured after a 14-seater matatu carrying them rolled in the notorious Nithi valley on the Meru-Embu road on Tuesday morning.

Tharaka Nithi County rescue team manager Alex Mugambi said the driver lost control of the vehicle and it rolled several times before settling in a ditch, about 100 metres from the infamous Nithi bridge.

“A woman has died and I have rushed 13 other passengers to Chuka County Referral Hospital with various degrees of injuries,” said Mr Mugambi.

He said the vehicle was heading towards Meru town.

The passengers were mainly businesswomen who sell livestock minerals.

Mr Kaburu Kiboto, an eyewitness, said the speeding vehicle’s brakes likely failed before the driver lost control of it.

“If it was not for the Gerish Hotel signboard and the guard rail that it hit, it could have rolled into the deep valley and maybe claimed more lives,” said Mr Kiboto.

Wreckage of the vehicle

He said it took the rescue team and members of the public a long time to remove the injured from the wreckage of the vehicle.

Police officers, who cannot be named because they are not allowed to speak to the media, said the vehicle had earlier been declared un-roadworthy but it was still operating.

Mr James Mutembei, a resident of the area, asked the Kenya National Highways Authority to allow locals to plant trees along the road to act as a barrier when accidents happen.

“If the trees we planted along the road had not been cleared, the vehicle could not have rolled several metres,” said Mr Mutembei.

In his 2017 campaign manifesto, Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki had promised to fast-track the reengineering of the section of the road to reduce sharp corners that have been blamed for most of the accidents.