Five killed as lorry rams into matatu

By VINCENT MABATUK

Five people died and 13 others were injured after a trailer hit a matatu at Sachangwan on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway.

The Sunday morning accident occurred at around 9 and the injured were rushed to hospitals in Nakuru.

Unconfirmed reports showed among the injured was a police boss attached to a Mombasa police station.

Three people died on the spot while two others died while undergoing treatment at the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital.

According to the nurse in charge, a mother and her five-year-old son died while being attended to.

Wreckage of the lorry that hit a matatu on the Nakuru-Eldoret road near the infamous Sachangwan black spot, yesterday. By last evening, five people had been confirmed dead, while the injured were being treated in Nakuru hospitals. [PHOTO: BONIFACE THUKU/STANDARD]

Both vehicles were headed to Nakuru at the time of the accident.

One of the seriously injured was taken to the intensive care unit. The lorry driver and his conductor were among those who perished at the scene. The speeding lorry, ferrying sugar, hit the 14-seater matatu from behind throwing it off the road.

Witnesses said the lorry’s brakes might have failed as it drove downhill.The passengers were thrown out of the windows as the matatu flew down a 10-metre bridge.

Personal belongings, among them shoes, clothes and food were strewn all over the accident scene.

Oil tragedy

The wreckages of the matatu and trailer were towed to Rongai Police Station.

Last month, ten people perished and 29 were injured after a bus headed to Malaba collided with a trailer along the same road. Among the dead was a soldier attached to 77 Artillery Battalion.

Sachangwan is famous for the February 9, 2009 tragedy where about 133 people died and 178 others injured after a fuel tanker exploded when residents streamed to loot spilled petroleum products on transit. The victims were buried in a mass grave.