Three students die in dawn road accident

The wreckage of a bus belonging to Lokichar Secondary School at the Kaptimbor blackspot on the Kabarnet-Iten road. Three people died on the spot and several others injured after the bus rolled downhill. [Photo: Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

Three students died on the spot after their school bus rolled several times at a blackspot two kilometres from Kabarnet town.

Six other students are admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) at the St Luke Hospital in Eldoret where they were transferred to from Kabarnet County Hospital.

The accident occurred Friday at the Kaptimbor blackspot on the Iten-Kabarnet highway at 6am when the bus veered off the road and rolled downhill.

Baringo Police Commandant Peter Ndung’u said the bus hit a guard rail and rolled several times before landing in a ditch.

The roof of the school bus was ripped off on impact, with students’ personal effects strewn all over the scene.

Spinal injuries

The 66-seater bus belonging to Lokichar Secondary School in Turkana County had 52 occupants -- the driver, his assistant, four teachers and 46 students.

Other injured students were rushed to Baringo County Hospital. The hospital’s Superintendent Dr Stephen Kalya said the students taken to ICU were stable.

“They had abdominal and spinal injuries, which required special attention and treatment, but they are stable and out of danger,” he told reporters at a press conference attended by Rift Valley Region Director of Education Mrs Mary Gaturu and Baringo County Executive for Health Dr Andrew Kwanyike.

The injured were attended to by intern nurses due to the ongoing nurses’ strike.

The students were on their way back to school from the Rift Valley Secondary Schools Term Two B Games at Kabarnet High School. The Turkana County team had just been eliminated from the games.

The bus was carrying students from four different schools -- 12 from Loima Boys, 20 from AGC Lokichar Secondary, six from Lodwar Boys and eight from Katilu Secondary Schools -- said Baringo Police Commandant Peter Ndung’u.

Known blackspot

Ndung’u decried rampant cases of accidents along the winding Kabarnet-Iten road and called on motorists unfamiliar with the route to be cautious.

“This is a known blackspot that has killed many of our people. Many matatus have rolled down the hill at the same spot,” said Joshua Kemboi, a witness.