One person killed, five injured in Mumias cane truck accident

KAKAMEGA: One person died on spot and five others seriously injured after a lorry overturned at Namakoye village in Navakholo Sub County.

The Sunday evening accident involved a privately owned lorry contracted by Mumias Company ferrying cane to the company.

The driver was among those who were seriously injured as one of the loaders died after his attempts to jump off the lorry failed.

The deceased was among the other cane loaders sitting on the top of the lorry at the time of the accident.

Confirming the accident Navakholo OCPD Muturi Mbogo said police have launched investigations to establish the cause of the accident.

"We have not yet established the cause of the accident. One person died on spot, six were injured. Five have been discharged while one was referred to Kakamega County Hospital" said Mbogo.

According to eye witnesses, the lorry was speeding before it slid on the slanting gravel road and overturned.

"The lorry was in high speed chasing another lorry ahead. It slid on this gravel and overturned killing one of its loaders on spot as others managed to jump but they sustained injuries and were rushed to Navakholo Sub County hospital" said Edward Namususuni, an eye witness.

He also blamed the contractor who is gravelling the road for failing to grade and balance the road posing serious challenges to road users.

"The contractor did a shoddy work because no grading was done on this road after he applied gravel. This makes the road difficult to pass especially to motorists" he said.

His words were echoed by Bunyala West ward administrator Joseph Oluta who attributed the accident to poor work done by the contractor.

"Despite the driver speeding this accident could have been avoided if the road could have been graded and balanced well. The lorry slid on the gravel because the road is slanting which a mistake caused by the contractor" said Oluta.

Navakholo MP Emmanuel Wangwe warned drivers and other road users to be careful while using the road to avoid accidents.

He also asked cane loaders to stop sitting on the top of cane trucks as this pose dangers to them especially during accidents.

He also asked traffic police to establish the cause of the accident and be more vigilant to arrest those who violate traffic rules.

"I condole the family of the person who died and wish those injured quick recovery. However, I want to caution people not to hang on cane tractors or trucks, it is dangerous to them as we have lost one person due to such incidents. Traffic police should move with speed to get the cause and ensure such incidents do not occur again" said Wangwe.

Most cane loaders prefer to sit on the top of the cane trucks which is against traffic rules to hang on the top of any moving vehicle.