Minister orders firm’s buses grounded and owners charged after horror crash

Roads Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau Thursday ordered that buses belonging to the company whose vehicle was involved in Thursday’s accident which killed 41 people be grounded and the owners charged.

At the same time, Mr Kamau said the ministry would come up with a law to ensure buses are not allowed to carry passengers at night.

“In Tanzania, buses are not allowed to ferry passengers at night. We will do all it takes to make sure that there are no buses doing business after dusk,” Mr Kamau said.

He said the bus in Thursday’s horror accident was operating without a TLB licence and was overloaded with 77 passengers instead of the recommended 61.

“How can the company allow the bus to ferry passengers without the document and actually overloaded? The company will be held responsible,” Mr Kamau said.

Speaking in Narok Town Thursday, the minister said police, on Wednesday, seized another bus from the same company in the ongoing traffic crackdown.

He said the driver was fined Sh50,000 for speeding.

“Something has to yield, and the bus company owners must be answerable to this mess,” he said.

Mr Kamau said police officers had been sent to all bus termini around the country to check whether vehicles heading to various destinations had complied with traffic regulations.

The cabinet secretary, who was accompanied by Narok Governor Samuel Tunai, and Members of Parliament Soipan Tuya (Narok) and Gladys Wanga (Homa Bay) visited the district hospital where the accident survivors had been taken.

Mr Kamau said the hospital and the mortuary was overstretched, but pledged that the government would foot all the bills.

“The hospital mortuary has a capacity of nine bodies, but we have 41 in there; something must be done to assist the relatives of the victims transfer these bodies to other health centres where they can be stored and postmortems carried out,” he said.

Narok County government donated blankets for children whose relatives died in the accident.

The governor also waived all postmortem fees for the victim’s relatives.

SURVIVORS RECALL LAST MINUTES

Peter Okinyi has only God to thank after surviving the accident that claimed 41 lives of his fellow passengers, who he desperately tried to save.

“I was nervous right from Maai-Mahiu trading centre when the bus started speeding. I was seated at the back and what I remember is the bus leaning on one side then a very loud bang,” said Mr Okinyi, 34, from his hospital bed.

He then realised that the bus had started to roll with passengers screaming for help.

“It rolled several times and because there were trees on its path, they destroyed the roof of the bus – ripping it off with some passengers being left on the ground as the bus continued to roll,” the survivor recounted to the Nation at Narok District Hospital where he was admitted after the accident.

Since he only suffered injuries on his two legs and a slight injury on his head, Okinyi said he rushed towards the main road to alert anyone who could hear him in the area.
“I had to scream loudly and several people rushed to help the victims – most of whom were writhing in pain,” he narrated.

Locals helped save many lives, as according to him, they were the first to provide vehicles to take the injured to hospital way before the police arrived.

Okinyi boarded the bus in Nairobi at 10pm hoping to be in Soli, Homa Bay, in the morning.

Another grateful survivor, Gerald Okoth, who was going to the same place, described his as a miraculous escape.

Okoth suffered shoulder and head injuries. He was waiting at the Narok hospital to be attended to. He told the Nation: “The driver was speeding at the time the accident occurred at 1am. The bus was overloaded with passengers and luggage.”

He noted that the bus was at low speeds when going uphill probably overwhelmed by the luggage it had on its carrier.

When the bus came to a stop after rolling, Okoth said: “I managed to crawl out and searched for my luggage. Until then, I was not aware that I had been injured.”

As he grappled in the dark searching for his bag, rescuers arrived and he was rushed to hospital.

No trace of husband

Okoth said that two vehicles were supposed to share the luggage, but one of the buses failed to turn-up forcing the luggage on their ill-fated bus.
Benta Akinyi, who was also recovering at the same hospital, could not trace her husband after the accident.

“We left Nairobi together with our two children – one was taken to Kenyatta National Hospital – but I don’t know where my husband is,” Akinyi said, adding that they headed to their rural home in Soli to attend a burial. Her right leg was injured.

Her other child was recovering at the same hospital after she suffered internal injuries.

Health workers gave First Aid to the injured as they waited for specialised treatment.

Additional reporting by MACHARIA MWANGI mmacharia@ke,nationmedia.com