Lorry smashes into matatu killing 10

Ten people died on Wednesday night after a lorry crashed into a matatu on the Kenol-Murang’a road.

Seven others were taken to Thika Level Five Hospital, Murang’a District Hospital and Maragua District Hospital in critical condition.

The lorry was heading to Murang’a and the matatu to Nairobi when the accident occurred at Karigoine market at about 8.30pm.

“The driver lost control of the lorry and hit the matatu head-on,” Murang’a South police boss Antony Onyango told the Nation at the scene.

It took police and Red Cross officials more than two hours to free passengers trapped in the wreckage.

Mr Onyango said the brakes of the lorry, which was ferrying stones, could have failed before the crash.

Witnesses said the driver was hooting relentlessly as the lorry shot down the pot-holed road before it rammed into the matatu.

Others said the matatu driver had little room for manoeuvre as he was sandwiched between the lorry and a boulder.

Mr Onyango said the driver of the truck sustained minor injuries and escaped after the accident.

Area councillor Mr Solomon Karuri, blamed the accident on potholes.

In Nairobi, a driver died on the spot early on Wednesday when his car rammed a truck on the Northern Bypass.

Elsewhere, two people died on the spot on Wednesday in an accident involving a bus and a matatu at Alendu trading centre on the Nairobi-Kisumu highway.

Witnesses said the driver of the bus from Nairobi was attempting to avoid hitting a passenger vehicle that had stopped to pick passengers on the road when it collided with an oncoming matatu.

One of the victims was the conductor of the matatu. Seven passengers suffered severe injuries and were rushed to the Nyanza Provincial Hospital for treatment.

Early this month, a man died and another suffered a broken hand when their car ploughed into a tractor near Mwitoti trading centre on the Kakamega-Bungoma road.

On Monday, 10 police officers were injured when the vehicle they were travelling in crashed into a ditch on the Kakamega-Kisumu road.

On May 2, 10 people died and several others were injured in an accident involving a truck, two matatus and two motorcycles at Mwembe on the Kisii-Kilgoris road after a truck transporting molasses to Kisii developed mechanical problems and rammed a matatu.

Police said the driver of the matatu lost control of his vehicle and smashed into an oncoming matatu.

Last Saturday, at least 11 people died in two separate road accidents in Eldoret and Makindu.

The two vehicles hit a rock on the side of the road after the collision.