Six die in Limuru road accident

Business

By David Odongo

Six people died on Sunday in Limuru along the Nairobi Nakuru highway in a road accident involving three vehicles; a saloon, a Nissan shuttle and a bus.

Lari deputy OCPD Jonathan Muganda said the saloon car caused the midmorning accident when the driver tried to make a u-turn along the highway.

"The three men who were in the saloon car tried to make an illegal turn, they wanted to drive back to Nairobi, and in the process, an oncoming Matatu hit their car," he said adding that the Matatu, which was being driven at a high speed, rolled on impact and only stopped when it hit a bus that was traveling from Nairobi.

"Seeing that they had caused an accident, the three men in the saloon car escaped on foot, abandoning their car" added Muganda.

A wreckage of the matatu that was involved in the accident in Limuru where five people and a child died and others hospitalised. Photo:Moses Omusula/Standard

Godfrey Mamayi, a witness who was in the bus said that when their driver saw the Matatu hit the saloon car and it started rolling, he stopped the bus and the matatu’s spin was stopped when it hit the bus.

"When the Matatu hit our bus, I could see the conductor was immediately crashed between our bus and the Matatu. We went out and one woman died just after we had pulled her from the wreckage" said Mamayi.

Six patients who were pulled from the wreckage were taken to Tigoni District hospital.

"They all have soft tissue injuries and two have serious fractures in their lower limbs" said Tigoni Hospital medical superintendent, Dr Caroline Kamanga.

She said the victims were in a stable condition but two will be referred to Kenyatta National Hospital.

The deputy OCPD added that by the end of the day, they will have known the identity of the owner of the saloon car.

"We have already established contact with the motor vehicle registry and we are in the process of getting to know who owns the car that we now have in our possession" said Muganda.

The bus company later sent another bus to pick the stranded passengers who were traveling to Bungoma.

"It’s been three hours since the accident and my five year old son hasn’t said a single word to me. He is just staring into space" said a passenger Mary Naliaka who was traveling with her two sons.

"He talks a lot but he just went mum after seeing the Matatu roll, hit our bus and the men folk trying to pull the mangled bodies from the wreck" said Naliaka.

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