Images from scene gave me nightmares

At around 9.15pm on Saturday, one of my friends, Samuel Karanja, called to inform me that there was a serious accident at Laini Trading Centre at Karai on the Nairobi-Naivasha highway.

“The accident is serious,” he said and disconnected the line.

My journalistic intuition urged me into action.

The traffic jam was building and I opted to use a motorcycle taxi despite the biting cold. I reached the scene in about 20 minutes.

What I encountered was harrowing.

Badly burnt bodies were strewn on the road.

Vehicles were burning and rescuing survivors was next to impossible, in part because visibility was poor and the stretch is not well lit.

Police made every attempt to keep the surging crowds at bay but at one time it proved a difficult task.

Filming the scene and taking notes was a stomach-churning ordeal.

Never in my 14 years in journalism was I so overwhelmed.

The boda boda rider kept close to me as we counted bodies while racing to keep the Nation Digital team on the night shift well informed so that they could pass on the information to our readers as the horrific events unfolded.

Bodies of uniformed officers lay a few metres from the wreckage of their vehicle, which was one of those that collided with the truck before it, too, burst into flames.

The Kenya Red Cross team was among the first to respond, loading the burnt bodies onto their trucks, assisted by volunteers.

After I went home I had a sleepless night. I kept relieving the gory images.