Two mourners, flower farm workers perish in separate road crashes

Residents view the wreckage of a bus that was hit by a train near Panoroma Hotel in Naivasha on Saturday evening. [Photo: Antony Gitonga/Standard]

A minor was among two mourners who died in a road accident near Kinungi Trading Centre in Naivasha Sunday.

This was after a bus they were travelling rolled after the driver lost control of it.

Forty-nine other mourners were injured, eight of them seriously, following the accident along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway a few kilometres from Naivasha town.

The accident came hours after another one involving a bus and train that left two flower farm workers dead and scores injured.

The bus involved in the Kinungi accident was ferrying over 70 mourners from Nairobi to Western Kenya.

A witness, James Kabono, said the driver of the bus was speeding and the vehicle began to sway from one side of the road to the other as it went downhill.

“There were vehicles ahead and the driver tried to avoid ramming them. But he lost control and the bus rolled several times,” he said.

Mr Kabono denied allegations that the recently erected speed bumps were to blame for the accident at the famous blackspot.

“It was raining heavily and this compounded efforts to rescue those trapped in the mangled wreck,” he said.

The superintendent in charge of Naivasha Referral Hospital, Joseph Mburu, said the child and the woman succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment.

Dr Mburu said 49 passengers were admitted to the facility, majority of them suffering mainly from fractures.

“Two of the passengers died while undergoing treatment, several have fractures and we have admitted 49 patients in total,” he said.

A senior police officer who declined to be named confirmed the accident terming it self-involving.

He added that initial investigations pointed to mechanical failure.

The officer said the driver of the ill-fated bus was among those who were seriously injured.

Nursing injuries

“The bodies have been taken to the mortuary while the wreckage has been towed to the Naivasha Police Station,” he said.

Meanwhile, two flower farm workers died while undergoing treatment at the Naivasha Referral Hospital after a bus they were travelling in was hit by a train in Naivasha town on Saturday evening.

The bus, which was ferrying Avarta Flower Farm workers, left 24 others nursing minor injuries.

Emotions ran high as the injured were wheeled into the referral facility by police and residents.

A train heading to Kisumu from Nakuru hit the bus that was crossing a railway line.

Peter Muiruri, an eyewitness, said the driver of the ill-fated bus was joining the nearby road when the hooting train hit the vehicle.

He said the bus was dragged along for metres.

“The accident occurred very fast and in the process scores of the workers were injured, some of them seriously,” said the witness.

Another witness, only identified as Simon, said the driver’s view was obstructed by some trees leading to the crash.

Dr Mburu confirmed the deaths.

Naivasha Deputy OCPD Agnes Ajamong confirmed the accident and the number of those injured, saying they were searching for the driver who escaped after the incident.

“Five of the workers were seriously hurt and another 24 had minor injuries and have been treated and discharged,” she said.