Families mourn loved ones that perished in Soysambu crash

Peninah Achieng mourns the death of her three friends. They were all victims of the Saturday morning accident that claimed 20 lives in Soysambu on the Nakuru-Nairobi highway. [Photo: Suleiman Mbatiah/Standard]

Families and friends of 20 people who perished in Saturday's horrific road crash are yet to come to terms with their heavy loss.

Many, like Kelvin Ochieng, are still in shock.

Mr Ochieng lost his three sisters - Beatrice Awuor, 38, Elizabeth Ongoro, 28, and Hellen Akinyi, 38, during the gruesome early morning accident that involved a passenger bus and two trailers.

Their deaths hit Ochieng like a thunderbolt.

"I cannot believe those who have been putting a smile on my face are no more,"  he said, describing his sisters as loving siblings who had given him financial and social support - more so after the death of their parents several years ago.

In a tragic twist of fate, the three sisters were traveling to Kisumu to attend a friend's funeral.

They called their brother to inform him about their travel plans and called again to inform him that they had boarded a bus.

Last conversation

That was the last conversation Ochieng would ever have with his sisters.

Outside the Gilgil Hospital morgue, Josiah Omutoko, who lost his brother Raphael Otuoma in the crash, looked overwhelmed.

The two brothers had left Nairobi for Vihiga to bury their father, Asaha Nyamungu, who died last week.

By a stroke of fate, they boarded different vehicles but kept in constant communication until around 10.30pm.

Mr Omutoko reached home at around 5am thinking his brother had preceded him. But Otuoma was not home and calls to his phone went unanswered.

The family proceeded with the burial preparations expecting their brother to join them. He did not. The next Omutoko saw was his lifeless body in the mortuary.

Now the family is making plans for a second burial.

A similar tale of pain was repeated by relatives and friends of 18 others who died in the accident.