Five perish in Kisumu road accident

By Rushdie Oudia and Dennis Onyango

Kisumu, Kenya: Five people died on the spot and at least 10 others injured in an accident along Kisumu-Kakamega Road on Sunday evening.

The accident that happened at around 5.30pm involved a Nissan Matatu heading to Kisumu town from Kakamega after its brakes became faulty causing it to roll severally.

According to an eye witness, Tobias Okello, the driver of the 14-seater matatu hooted as the vehicle sped down the slope while trying to control the vehicle.

Okello, who lives nearby, said the driver was however unable to control the vehicle which later rolled severally before landing 50 metres down the slope from the main road.

“It is a horrible scene, I saw the vehicle coming down the slope at a break neck speed hooting," he said.

The accident happened near Coptic Holy Ghost Church, four kilometres from Kisumu’s main bus terminus which was the Nissan’s destination.

Kenya Red Cross Society volunteers from Kisumu, police and locals who had milled around the scene helped to save the victims and also remove the bodies from the wreckage.

However, heavy down pour disrupted the rescue operations making it difficult for volunteers to retrieve bodies and victims from the wreck.

The injured were rushed to New Nyanza Provincial Hospital, most of them serious wounds while the dead were taken to the hospital’s mortuary.

Kisumu Central Officer Commanding Police Division, Musa Kongoli described the accident as tragic.

Kongoli said that doctors were doing their best to save the lives of those who were critically injured and that the police would issue a statement after getting the official report from the hospital.

The whereabouts of the vehicle's driver and tout could not be immediately be established.

roudia@standardmedia.co.ke