Speeding lorry kills pedestrian in Kericho, crushes into tanker

A pedestrian died Thursday after being hit by a lorry at the Muhoroni junction on the Kericho-Kisumu highway.

Janet Ruto, an eyewitness, told Nation.co.ke that the driver of the speeding lorry lost control of the vehicle after it apparently lost its brakes and veered off the road, hitting the passer-by before crashing into a stationery oil tanker.

The vehicle was travelling from the Kericho direction towards Kisumu when the crash happened in the afternoon.

“The lorry went up in flames after ramming into the tanker but thankfully the parked oil tanker was empty and therefore did not explode as we had feared it would,” she said.

ANOTHER ACCIDENT

Just hours earlier, another petrol tanker had also veered off the highway into an adjoining sugarcane farm, causing a fire that razed a section of the farm though it was later put out by locals.

The driver, however, escaped unhurt in the noon incident.

Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony, who visited the scene moments after the two accidents occurred, urged road users to be more vigilant in order to avoid unnecessary loss of lives.

He also advised truck drivers against disregarding orders by police to stop at roadblocks for checks after it emerged that the driver of the offending vehicle had refused to stop at a police roadblock despite being flagged down by the officers.

“Why would anyone disobey a clear order by traffic officers? Unless we understand the importance of abiding by the set traffic rules and respecting officers, we may never be able to end the scourge of accidents that have pointlessly cost us many lives,” he said.

The fate of the driver of the vehicle remains unknown with police expected to release more details concerning the two accidents later.

The body of the deceased was taken to the Kericho District Hospital mortuary.