Shitanda escapes unhurt in Kakamega road accident

Housing Minister Soita Shitanda was involved in a road accident along Kakamega - Webuye highway on Sunday morning when his driver veered off the road and landed in a ditch to avoid a collision with an oncoming truck.

At the time of the accident, Mr Shitanda's driver was overtaking a Kayamba Group van but noticed that the oncoming truck was swerving on both lanes.

To avoid the collision, Mr Shitanda's vehicle hit the Kayamba Group van before his vehicle overturned and landing in a ditch.

“I was forced to swerve suddenly after I noticed the lorry wobble from one side of the road to the other,” the driver told Nation.

Mr Shitanda, however, was unhurt during the 7am incident at Mwiyala Trading Centre about three kilometres from Kakamega town.

“It all happened to so quickly and before we could realise it, the vehicle had overturned and landed in a ditch,” said the Malava MP.

Mr Martin Mutinda, a member of the Kayamba Group said Mr Shitanda's vehicle rammed into his van from the side while overtaking before it lost control.

Three killed at Kimende

Meanwhile, at least three passengers and a good samaritan lost their lives at dawn on Sunday in a multiple accident involving a bus and two trucks at Kimende, Lari district along Nairobi - Nakuru highway.

According to police, 43 passengers aboard the Mfalme Bus Service were rushed to the AIC Kijabe Mission Hospital with minor injuries sustained in the 3am accident.

Area divisional police boss, Joshua Opiyo said the incident occurred when the bus driver tried to overtake a stationary truck that had developed mechanical problems but skid off the road into a ditch. The truck belongs to the Postal Corporation of Kenya.

Thereafter, a truck rammed into the bus in the ditch as it also attempted to avoid a collision with the stationary truck.

"A Mitsubishi Canter, which was transporting carrots and potatoes to a market in Nairobi hit the bus as it tried to avoid ramming into the stationary lorry. It then ran over passengers who had been rescued killing three and one villager who was helping the injured," said Mr Njoroge Kamande, an eye witness.

Deputy Traffic Commandant, Samuel Kimaru who arrived at the scene shortly confirmed that two women and a boy aboard the bus and an area resident helping out injured passengers died on spot when the truck ran over them.

“Nobody was killed when the bus skidded into the ditch. The victims died when the Canter fell on them," Mr Kimaru said.

Valley road

Elsewhere, one person was seriously injured and three others sustained minor injuries when three vehicles were involved in an accident along Nairobi’s Valley road.

The accident, which occurred in the early Sunday morning hours involved two mini trucks and a mini bus along the sloppy road near Integrity Centre.

According to an eyewitness, the accident occurred when the speeding mini-bus heading to town tried to overtake a garbage truck only to swerve into the lane of another oncoming truck heading up the slope.

“It all happened too quickly. It was around 6:30am and we were headed towards town when the bus overtook us and went straight into the lane of the other truck,” said Mr Samuel Njuguna who was seated on the passenger side of the garbage truck.

He escaped the accident unscathed.

“To avoid hitting the oncoming truck head on, the bus driver swerved and drove on the road pedestrian pavement, but still managed to hit the truck on the side,” said Mr Vincent Mwangi, a pedestrian.

According to Mr Njuguna, to avoid hitting the bus as well, the truck driver swerved into their line and hit them head-on.

“And that’s when the other truck rammed into us and for a few minutes I did not know what had happened,” he said.

“But when I regained consciousness, I found the head of the other driver hanging on the broken windshield. He was in a lot of agony," he added.

Another witness said he rushed to the nearby Integrity Centre and called fire fighters who came to the scene fifteen minutes later.

The driver and another passenger in the ill-fated truck were trapped and fire fighters had to cut the wreckage to free them.

The injured were rushed to Kenyatta National Hospital.