Police search for bus driver in accident that left 25 dead

The driver of a passenger bus that killed 25 people on the Nairobi-Mombasa highway in a midnight crash was speeding when the crash happened, police and witnesses said on Tuesday.

The accident occurred near Kambu shopping centre in Mtito-Andei, Makueni County, early Tuesday, when the Scania bus KCF 555Z belonging to Buscar Company collided with a fuel tanker as it sped from the capital to the Coastal city.

Police said they were looking for the driver, who is said to have fled.

The bus driver was overtaking at Kalulu bridge, police said. On seeing the oncoming tanker KBR 730S / ZD8658 he tried to return to his lane but crashed into the truck.

The bus rolled and landed on its side. Most of those killed were seated on the left side, which was ripped off on impact, while all the survivors were on the right.

NOTORIOUS BLACKSPOT

Pieces of luggage and other personal articles were strewn on the road.

The scene is a notorious blackspot and the highway is generally one of Kenya’s most dangerous.

According to the National Transport Safety Authority, 817 people have been killed in road crashes nationally so far this year. They include drivers, passengers and pedestrians.

In Tuesday’s crash, Kibwezi police boss Leonard Kimaiyo said 23 of the casualties died on the spot.

Twenty-three others were taken to Makindu Sub-County Hospital with injuries.

TREATED AND DISCHARGED

“Among the 23 patients whom we attended to at the hospital, 11 have been treated and discharged and we have lost two,” the hospital superintendent, Dr James Gachini, told the Nation on Tuesday.

The dead were four children, nine women and 12 men, among them Mr Yusufu Wafula, a relief driver of the bus. Their bodies are at the Makindu Hospital mortuary.

Survivors included the crew of the oil tanker, who were said to be in a critical condition at the hospital.

One survivor said he heard a loud bang before the crash and thought it was a tyre burst.

“I was alert and I heard a loud bang before the driver lost control and the bus hit the body of a tanker, sending the bus rolling on its side,” said Mr Edward Ngala, 21.

SUSTAINED DEEP CUTS

The Third Year film production and animation student at Multimedia University of Kenya was heading home in Kilifi County, three weeks after his attachment at A24 Media. He sustained deep cuts in the abdominal muscles, thigh and knee.

“I was seated on seat 39, next to the back row on the right side of the bus,” said Nebert Luvari, 58, from Kakamega County, who was headed to his workplace in Malindi, Kilifi. “I was the first to be attended to as I was covered in blood.”

Mr Luvari, who suffered a perforated lung, broken rib and injuries to the head, said passersby called for help.

Mr John Abaa, also from Kakamega, suffered a broken arm and a cut on the head. He was also going to Malindi, where he works as a cook.

Mr Isaac Muoso, one of the first at the scene, said a right tyre burst before the driver lost control. He said efforts by both drivers to avoid the collision were futile as the bridge was too narrow.

BADLY MUTILATED

Anxious relatives went to the hospital to check on their kin. One of them was Mr Wafula’s 24-year-old son.

“We spoke last yesterday (Monday) as I left Malindi for Nairobi and as Dad left Nairobi for Malindi,” a distraught Faisal Wafula recalled. “On Sunday, Dad sent me Sh1,000 to help in my relocation and promised to send more.”

The young man had just completed his internship as a pilot in Malindi and was heading home.

He was called by his mother and informed that the bus his father had travelled in had been involved in an accident.

He disembarked and rushed to the scene, where he learnt that his father was among the dead.

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS

Faisal said the family had been notified of the death and that funeral arrangements were under way.

A Kenya Air Force soldier was said to be among the dead. His colleagues flew to the hospital to pick up his body but they were unable to identify it from the scores that were badly mutilated.

Dr Patrick Musyoki, the chief officer at the Department of Health Services in the Makueni County government, who visited the survivors, said the hospital had set up a tent where those affected by the accident would be counselled.

“We are marshalling more morticians from other hospitals to take care of the bodies at the mortuary,” said Dr Musyoki when he visited the hospital.

FOOT MEDICAL BILLS

Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana also visited the hospital and said the county government will foot the medical bill for the survivors and waive mortuary charges for the dead.

“We have waived hospital charges for all those who were injured in the accident, except in cases where they require specialised services,” said Prof Kibwana, adding that the county was building a trauma centre to cater for accident survivors.

“This road has many accidents and this centre will help victims of the accidents,” said Governor Kibwana.

Additional reporting by Collins Omulo