FALSE: Viral 'Kimende' accident video not captured in Kenya
Fact Check
By
Patrick Vidija
| Jul 15, 2022
A viral video of a truck ramming into stationary cars on a highway was not captured in Kenya.
The video, widely shared on Facebook and WhatsApp platforms, has been circulating with those sharing it indicating that the accident happened in Kimende, which is among Kenya’s accident hotspots.
The caption implied that the accident had happened Wednesday night in Kimende, making many Kenyans to believe so since the area is usually prone to fog and mist. Many parts of Kenya are also currently experiencing cold weather, with short sunny intervals.
The Standard Checkpoint, using online tools, established that the viral video was from an accident that happened in South Africa at Mpumalanga on the N2 highway between Ermelo and Piet Retief.
Two people were seriously injured and scores sustained minor injuries in the accident that involved 5 trucks and 4 cars on March 23, 2022.
The video shows vehicles coming to a halt after visibility was severely compromised due to heavy fog on the highway.
Crash: N2 between Ermelo and Piet Retief, Mpumalanga. pic.twitter.com/hNysKeqhJW
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) March 22, 2022
Four men get out of their cars and appear to be trying to alert oncoming vehicles of the traffic ahead. They are seen waving their arms in the air after a pair of headlights emerge in the fog.
However, an oncoming truck doesn’t seem to see the warning and rams into the parked vehicles at high speed.
The truck then collides into a stationary truck and other cars with a dashcam footage showing a badly broken windscreen.
There are no reports to whether there were injuries at the scene but South African news outlets said the incident happened few days after another collision that killed two people and left three children injured.
VERDICT: The claim that the accident happened in Kimende is FALSE.