Six people killed in Meru road accident

The accident involving a lorry and two small cars at Kiengu along Garbatula-Mau road

At least six people died Saturday evening after a driver lost control of a lorry that was carrying unspecified number of people from Maua to Kina and Garbatula.

It was feared the number of fatalities would to rise as there were reports that some people were trapped in the lorry that overturned after hitting two other vehicles.

The lorry is said to have hit a Probox and a Toyota G Touring coming from the opposite direction before it rolled and crashed into a nearby house at Kiengu in Igembe North.

According to witnesses, the lorry lost its brakes before ramming into the two vehicles.

The occupants of the Toyota Probox, one identified as a pastor and a female passenger escaped with injuries during the accident.

Being a remote area, rescue efforts were hampered by lack of proper machinery that include a breakdown to tow the lorry.

Lorries are a common feature along the road as they are the only means of transport between Kina in Isiolo and Masua in Meru.

The lorries usually visit Maua on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays where they sell their goats and later on buy food and other materials for sale.

After the driver of the lorry lost control of the vehicle, it veered off the road and later rolled several times, witnesses said.

It was stuck on the roof of a house near the road.‎

The lorry, a Mitsubishi Fuso which carries livestock to Maua thrice weekly on market days then returns to Kina and Garbatulla with shop merchandise and sacks of dry food usually has traders precariously balancing on the roof railings.