Driver blamed as four die, 6 hurt in city crash

Passers-by trying to remove passengers from the Ongata Rongai matatu that overturned on Lang'ata road on September 25, 2016. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • Out of the six injured passengers, four were in critical condition and are admitted to Kenyatta National Hospital and St Mary’s Hospital in Lang’ata.
  • According to officers, at least three buses from Ongata Rongai have overturned on the road since June last year.

Four people died and six others were injured after a matatu veered off the road and overturned on Lang’ata Road, Nairobi.

According to police, the accident occurred as a result of speeding.

Nairobi Traffic Commandant Leonard Katana said preliminary investigations showed that the driver was speeding before he lost control of the vehicle, which veered off the road and crashed, just a few metres from Lang’ata Police Station.

Out of the six injured passengers, four were in critical condition and are admitted to Kenyatta National Hospital and St Mary’s Hospital in Lang’ata.

Mr Katana said the matatu, which had more than 40 passengers on board, was headed to the city centre when the accident occurred.

Some passengers and witnesses said the driver was speeding and the vehicle overturned when he tried to avoid hitting another vehicle.

“We have, however, launched investigations to establish the exact cause of the accident,” said Mr Katana.

The public managed to rescue the injured from the wreckage before police arrived.

There have been several accidents along Lang’ata road in the last one year.

Most of them have been as a result of speeding. Part of the road where Sunday’s accident occurred has a prescribed speed of 50km/ph, which police say is never obeyed by most motorists.

According to officers, at least three buses from Ongata Rongai have overturned on the road since June last year.

Several other cases involving private vehicles have been reported over the same period.

In August, a pupil from Victorian Academy in Meru died and several others were injured after their bus overturned on the same road.