Three die in a Mombasa road accident at 4 in the morning

By Onesmus Nzioka

MACHAKOS, KENYA: Three people died and nine seriously injured from a grisly accident involving a bus and a lorry at Kautandini, near Malili along the Nairobi Mombasa highway.

The accident occurred when a Chania bus headed to Nairobi collided with a tanker that was headed to Mombasa at 4 am Wednesday.

Makueni OCPD Joshua ole Leina said preliminary investigations showed that the bus lost control and hit the lorry then veered off the road and rolled several times killing the driver and one other male passenger on the spot.

Ten other passengers were admitted at the Machakos level five hospital with severe head injuries and broken limbs. One of them succumbed to the injuries while the other nine were still admitted by press time.

Leina said the bus had 38 passengers on board but the rest escaped unscathed. The lorry driver and his turn boy also survived the accident uninjured.

Bodies of the dead were taken to the Machakos level five hospital mortuary awaiting identification by their relatives.

The wreckage of the bus has been towed to Salama police station.

Leina has cautioned long distance drivers plying the route to avoid driving under fatigue as that is the reason behind the high number of accidents along the highway.

"We are aware that some drivers are being forced by their employers to drive for long distances while under fatigue and end up sleeping while driving. We caution such employers and drivers against taking the lives of other Kenyans for granted. We will not tolerate careless driving on or roads," he said.

 

.