Family loses four members in tragic accident

By Kenan Miruka

Residents of a village in Kisii County are in shock following a tragic road accident that killed four members of a family.

The four – a mother and her three children – were travelling to their Mbanda village home in Marani District after visiting their sick relative at a Kisii hospital when the accident occurred.

Sabina Moraa Osoro, 59, and her children Priscah Nyarangi, 37, a teacher at Nyambera Primary School in Kisii town, Judith Kwamboka, 34, who is based in US, and Crispin Momanyi, 21, a second year student at Usiu died in the accident involving their saloon car and a lorry ferrying power poles.

The father Gilbert Osoro Mangenga miraculously survived the accident and is recovering at a private hospital in Kisii town. The Standard spoke with Moraa’s brother, Motachi Momanyi, the principal of Nyamwanga Secondary School, who said the loss was too much to comprehend.

Devastating blow

“It is a devastating blow to our family losing four people at ago. That fateful Thursday evening, we met at Nyangena Hospital where one of my sisters was admitted. I was happy to meet my niece Judith who had come a week earlier from New Jersey. After a brief chat, we parted as they were to pass by the supermarket before driving back home,” recalls Momanyi. An hour later, Momanyi received a call from his shaken brother-in-law, Mangenga, saying he wanted him urgently at Mbanda junction.

“I drove immediately to that junction and was shocked to see the mangled bodies of my two nieces lying on the road,” he narrates, sorrow overcoming him.

His sister and nephew had been rushed to Kisii town in critical condition.

“My brother-in-law told me they were chatting in the vehicle while listening to music when the accident occurred. My nephew, Crispin, who was driving had veered off the road as he tried to give way to an oncoming truck when their car was hit from behind by a lorry,” says Momanyi.

Mangenga, who was in the passenger seat, told Momanyi that he only remembered hearing a bang and found himself standing beside the mangled wreckage of his car unaware of what had happened.

The lorry, coming from a nearby market, had lost control and smashed the saloon car killing two of the occupants on the spot. The other two who were rushed to hospital also succumbed to injuries the same evening.

“Crispin was studying Business Administration while Judith had migrated to the US after winning the Green Card lottery. She was working in New Jersey after graduating from Kenyatta University with an Education degree. She came visiting her family a week ago,” explained Momanyi.

Family members are planning to raise money to meet the funeral expenses.

The father is still admitted in hospital, but is reported to be in stable condition.