At least 30 dead, 18 hurt in Migaa bus-truck collision

Wreckage at the Migaa  where a bus has collided with a truck. (Photo: Courtesy)

A bus-truck collision at Migaa area along the infamous Nakuru-Eldoret road has claimed 30 lives and left scores others injured.

In the Sunday December 31 dawn accident, the bus belonging to Matunda Sacco was traveling from Busia to Nairobi when it collided head-on with a trailer as it tried to overtake.

Among the dead were the driver of the lorry and his assistant while 30 bodies have been retrieved from the ill-fated bus bringing the deaths in December from road accidents to over 100.

The injured were rushed to Molo Sub-County Hospital and the Nakuru Level Five Hospital.

This accident comes two days after one claimed the lives of three African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa (AIPCA) bishops in Mwea, Kirinyaga County.

The saloon car in which the bishops were traveling in collided with another as it tried to overtake near the Wamumu Approved School on the Nairobi- Meru highway.

National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has come under sharp criticism for doing little to stop the incessant road accidents.

On December 27, 2017, NTSA officials had to flee from the scene of an accident in Matuu town after a crowd of angry of people charged at them. They were accused of laxity in dealing with the carelessness an impunity that cost most lives.

On the fateful day, a 52-seater bus licensed to operate under a Githurai-based Sacco overturned killing five.

A statement from the road safety authority would however absolve its officers of the accusations arguing they had relocated to a different place to carry out another operation.

Read: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001262938/72hours-70-horror-road-crash-deaths
The Migaa crash is sad addition to a tragic normalcy in which bloodletting on our roads elicits knee-jerk reactions by bureaucrats and the police with no serious intentions to stop the madness.

On December 13 Standard Digital reported that at least 70 people had died in separate accidents in a span of 72 hours. 

In contrast, at least 71 people died in similar circumstances between January and November 28 on sections between Nakuru and Eldoret alone, according to the Government. 

The merry-making month of December, though not yet over, has claimed more than double the number of deaths compared to the past 11 months and it could anywhere above 150.

In the second week of December, a truck hit more than six vehicles left at least 15 people dead at Sachang’wan on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway leaving many passengers seriously injured. 

On December 11, nineteen people were killed in smash-up at Kamukuywa Bridge along the Webuye-Kitale road, among them nine from one family.

They were travelling to Vihiga from Kitale after a family re-union. Witnesses recounted how six vehicles were involved in multiple accidents at the killer bridge between 8.30pm and 10pm. 

On December 10, seven musicians, who included five men and two women, died when their Toyota Probox collided head-on with a lorry at Kamara on Nakuru-Eldoret highway.

December also saw 18 perish when an Administration Police truck heading to Kapedo from Marigat town in Baringo rolled, most of them were civilians who had hiked a lift on the government vehicle. 

Five people also died on the Matuu-Garissa highway in Kitui County.
In the Sachang’wan crash, the lorry ploughed into a number of vehicles, including a Modern Coast Bus that was travelling to Mombasa from Kampala. 

In the wake of the crash, The NTSA said plans were underway to construct a dual carriageway at Sachang’wan as part of the solution to the current problem. Work has since started.