Mukhonje: Sleepy market claiming lives through accidents

Wycliffe Nyota, a trader at Mukhonje market along the Webuye-Eldoret is counting himself lucky to be a live after two fuel tankers exploded next to his shop and caught fire on Saturday.

He was in his shop attending to customers when he heard a loud bang followed by an explosion at about 5.30pm.

A boda boda rider was burnt to death and a truck which was transporting building blocks caught fire and was destroyed. 

The accidents which were frequent at Chimoi and Kaburengu market have turned Mukhonje into a black spot along the busy highway.

By yesterday, three people had lost their lives and five other were seriously injured in different accident on the road in the last 24 hours.

Two truck drivers died at Matisi market in Bungoma County after their trucks were involved in head on collision. 

At Kaburengu, a truck transporting construction material overturned, cutting off a section the road from other truck drivers and motorists for several hours.

Back at Mukhonje Mr Nyota recounts how he narrowly escaped from being burnt death in in the inferno.

“I rushed out to investigate what had happened and as I got to the door, I saw a ball of fire darting towards my shop. I hurriedly turned back and escaped using the backdoor,” said Mr Nyota.

The trader, aged 32 has been operating at the market since 2010 and twice escaped death after his shops located next to the road were burnt in the two fire incidents involving the fuel tankers.

On Saturday, the place next to his shop was engulfed in an inferno after two fuel tankers which were heading towards Webuye, crashed into each other.

One of the tankers rammed the one ahead of it after the driver lost control as the vehicle descended the steep section of the road.

After the collision, both tankers veered off the road and ploughed into power lines at the market before they crashed into a ditch.

Traders who sell fruits, cereals, vegetables and eggs along the busy road escaped death narrowly after the fuel tankers exploded, turning the market into a ball of fire.

Mr Nyota lost shop goods worth Sh500,000 in the first tanker explosion in August last year and another Sh200,000 in the Saturday incident.

“I had rebuilt my shops after the first fuel tanker explosion and everything was going on smoothly before the tragedy struck again,” said Mr Nyota.

Read: Two die after truck catches fire along Eldoret-Webuye road

Fire fighters from West Kenya Sugar Company and the neighbouring Butali Sugar Mills were called in a helped contain the inferno at Mukhonje.

Mr Joshua Nyasimi, who is in charge of the Northern Corridor Transit Patrol Unit said one of the driver could have been speeding and rammed the tanker ahead of him, causing the fire.

“This is a very unfortunate incident which could be avoided if the drivers adhered to the traffic rules,” said Mr Nyasimi.

This is the second fire incident at the market involving fuel tankers which explode after being involved in grisly accidents at the same spot.

In August last year, a fuel tanker heading towards Webuye from Eldoret exploded at the market after it veered off the road and crashed into a power transformer, igniting an inferno.

Seven people died in the accident while a matatu and another vehicle were burnt after they caught fire.

Mr Luke Wanjala, a barber at the market narrowly escaped death after his kiosk was engulfed in flames during the crash.

“I was busy attending to my clients in the kiosk when the fuel tankers collided a short distance from where we were. Within minutes, the kiosk caught fire but we managed to escape without sustaining any injuries,” said Mr Wanjala.

The Luandeti location Chief Mr Thomas Luvoga said a lorry transporting a consignment of machetes had veered off the road and crashed at Mukhonje market last month.

“The villagers broke into the containers and looted the machetes. If you visit any of the homes here, you will find that each family had several machetes, which are dangerous weapons,” said Mr Luvoga.

A bump has been constructed near the market but truck drivers and other motorists coming from Eldoret have to navigate a steep descend on a section of the road as they approach Mukhonje.

Speeding drivers end up losing control of their vehicles because of the steep stretch on the section of road which is about a kilometre long as they approach the market.

A bump has been constructed a short distance near the market but that has failed to deter motorists to slow down their vehicles as they approach Mukhonje.

In a span of eight months, the scary nightmare of the fuel tanker explosion have come back to haunt residents of the usually vibrant market. There are plans to relocate the market away from near the road to avoid deaths and injuries in the event of accidents.

Leaders from the Western region have been concerned about a spike in the number of crashes and explosions of fuel tankers on Northern Corridor roads.

They want the highway expanded to accommodate growing vehicle traffic, which includes long-distance trucks going to or coming from landlocked countries like Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

The Northern Corridor, a gateway to the landlocked economies of the East African Community from the seaport of Mombasa, is one of the busiest and most important transport routes in the region.

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