Six members of a family perish in road accident

Six family members were killed in a road accident in Nyahururu on Sunday.

The six were part of a group of people travelling together after a family function at Kipipiri area on the Ol Kalou road.

Six other people were injured in the tragedy in which their four-wheel drive vehicle rolled several times before finally landing in a ditch.

The injured were taken to the Ol kalau sub district hospital by good Samaritans.

Lost control

The large group of people was travelling back to Nairobi when their driver lost control of the vehicle at Gillette area, which has sharp bends, and it rolled several times.

Those killed in the 6.00 am accident were the woman driver, a woman passenger, two men and a boy and a girl.

The family members had crammed into the vehicle after the gathering to be dropped at their various destinations, including Ol Kalou township, where some of them lived.

Nyandarua police boss Robinson Mboloi said the vehicle was “extremely overloaded.”

He said this must have made it extremely difficult for the driver to negotiate the numerous and sharp bends on the road.

He warned motorists using the road to be extra careful as it had only been tarmacked recently.

He said accidents involving motorbikes and personal cars were now an almost daily occurrence as travellers tended to speed because of the smooth road.

Mr Mboloi also said that road signs were yet to be erected, making the road extra hazardous.

The Sh3.5 billion Njabini-Dundori road is being constructed by China Wui Road Construction Company and starts at Njabini off the Nairobi-Nakuru highway to Dundori, a few kilometres from the Nakuru-Nairobi highway.