6 killed in multiple road accident along Nairobi- Mombasa highway

A disembarked trailer lies on top of a matatu with 14 passengers on board following a multiple road accident that claimed at least six lives along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway on August 4, 2012. Photo/BOB ODALO

At least six people were killed on Saturday in a multiple road accident involving two matatus and two lorries in Machakos along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway.

In what turned out to be a black Saturday, this section of the road witnessed at least five accidents within a 10-kilometer stretch.

The accident occurred near SIBI Construction site offices. A matatu driver who was overlapping reverted to the normal lane, hence, confusing other motorists, notably the drivers of the two lorries moving in the opposite direction of each other.

In a bid to avoid hitting the matatu the two lorries smashed head-on.

The impact disembarked a trailer from one of the lorries, which fell on a matatu with 14 passengers aboard. The two lorry drivers died on the spot.

A second matatu rammed into its counterpart with all its occupants surviving the impact.

However, four passengers died when the trailer fell on one of the matatu's trapping several passengers in the process.

The injured were rushed by Red Cross personnel to the Machakos Level 5 hospital while the dead were taken to the hospital mortuary.