One dead, dozens injured in Nakuru accident

Passengers on a bus headed to Eldoret and Kitale escaped death narrowly when it collided with a trailer about a kilometre away from Sachangwan and then caught fire.

The driver of the trailer loaded with sulphuric acid died in a fire that engulfed the two vehicles shortly after the accident, which occurred at about 12.30 a.m. on Friday morning.

The bus driver, Justus Bahati, told the Nation at the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital in Nakuru the trailer was behind five others on the busy highway travelling towards Nairobi.

It suddenly moved onto his side of the road to overtake the rest and when he swerved to his side, the trailer followed suit and there was a collision.

He struggled to get out from beneath the steering wheel, which had him trapped, and for about five minutes watched as the fire that had started in the trailer’s engine spread towards the bus.

He escaped with injuries to the head and was asked by nurses to undergo an x-ray of his shin, which appeared broken.

Mr Bahati said he has driven buses for the last 23 years and the midnight accident was the first he had been involved in. Police ferried the injured to hospitals in Nakuru, Salgaa and Molo town after the accident.

The bus had 67 passengers on board. Five are admitted at Provincial General Hospital, Nakuru. Most suffered burns from the acid and bruises while a few had their vision affected by the acid.

The trailer’s turn boy, Bernard Makori suffered severe burns, with nurses at the hospital saying they covered more than 50 per cent of his body.

He was, however, able to speak and said the trailer had lost its brakes before slamming into the bus belonging to Climax Coaches. The nurses said efforts to reach members of his family in Webuye had failed as the numbers he gave them to call did not go through.

Other passengers escaped with injuries, most of them burns from the acid, which spilt onto the road and beneath the bus. Although they were able to get out of the bus alive, they ended up getting acid burns.

Most of them were businessmen hoping to cash in on market days in Eldoret, Kitale and Matunda on the highway linking the two towns in the North Rift.

Simon Mureithi, 32, told the Nation he had bought assorted goods worth Sh350,000 at Kamukunji in Nairobi. He was hoping to increase the stock at his shop in Matunda, where he sells cooking pots, padlocks and thermos flasks on wholesale basis. He suffered minor injuries from the acid.

Peter Karanja lost trousers and jackets worth about Sh40,000. He said he had taken a loan to finance the venture.

Tyrus Ndongu escaped without injuries after making his way out of the burning bus via the emergency door at the back but said he had lost goods worth Sh67,000.