By DANN OKOTH

Nairobi, Kenya: Tragedy has stalked Kenya Railways Corporation for a long time. Many lives and property have been lost in accidents involving trains.

The institution is now run by Rift Valley Railways – a consortium that was established to manage the Kenya-Uganda railways.

The Mutindwa tragedy, which saw 12 people crushed to death on Wednesday after a train rammed into a commuter bus, appeared to echo the diabolical events of yester-years. The worst is the tragedy of 1993, when more than 140 people perished after a passenger train plunged into the frigid waters of Ngai Ndethya River near Mtito Andei on the Mombasa-Nairobi rail line.

The train was ferrying at least 600 passengers. The ill-fated train was swept off its tracks by raging floodwaters. The train comprising the locomotive, six units of wagons and four-second-class coaches plunged into the river – with four coaches being washed 500 metres away.

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Fast-forward to August 20, 2000, at around 12.05am. Athi River residents were in deep sleep. They were completely unaware of what was going on in their surroundings. Outside their homes, eight units of runaway train wagons were rolling down the slope from Marimbet Railway Sub-station towards Athi River.

The wagons, which were laden with explosives and petroleum gas, exploded on impact at Athi River Railway Station near Nairobi.

A huge inferno engulfed homes, killing 24 people – including seven members of the same family.

In the grisly incident, the first of its kind in Kenya’s rail transport history, 18 people were burnt beyond recognition as the massive fire engulfed Kenya Railways staff houses at the station. The fire razed some 25 houses.

Rescuers were kept away by the raging inferno, which had covered an estimated two square kilometres in less than 10 minutes.

Tragedy struck on the Mombasa line again in March 1999, when another train derailed, killing 32 people and leaving hundreds of others seriously injured only 150km from the scene of the earlier disaster.