Anguish as kin identify Narok bus crash victims

Grieving relatives and friends of 17 people who died in a horrific accident in Narok on Wednesday trooped to the Narok County Referral Hospital mortuary to identify bodies of their loved ones.

The bus belonging to Daima Connections Sacco, heading to Nairobi from Kendu Bay on Monday, plunged into Siyiabei River after crashing through guardrails on the Narok-Maai Mahiu road.

The initial figure of 19 dead was scaled down to 17 - 14 adults and one child - after a body count at the mortuary by police and Kenya Red Cross staff.

Ms Nancy Laboso, the Narok County disaster management boss, said her team and the Kenya Red Cross have set-up a desk at the hospital to give information on victims and counsel relatives of those killed and injured.

EXCESS PASSENGERS
By Wednesday evening, the relatives had identified nine of the bodies.

Ms Laboso said they have requested for body bags from Bomet and Nakuru counties to enable relatives move their dead to other mortuaries.

“The mortuary is over-stretched as it can only accommodate 19 bodies. We are asking relatives to transfer them to their respective homes,” Ms Laboso said.

Security was beefed up at the mortuary to keep the situation under control, as emotions ran high.

Narok Governor Samuel Tunai, who visited the hospital to condole with the families and the injured, said reports indicate that the 63-seater bus could have had as many as 80 passengers.

“The medics here received 63 people with injuries. If you add to that the number of those who died then it means the bus could have had as many as 80 people on board,” Mr Tunai said.

TRANSPORT
The governor, who was accompanied by County Health Executive Vivian Sereti, waived hospital bills for the survivors and pledged to offer transport to take the injured and dead bodies to their home counties.

Nyamira Governor John Nyagarama too sent his condolences.

Eight of those who died and 12 survivors are from North Mugirango in Nyamira County.

“We have dispatched a team of senior officials to Narok to assess the situation, and help ferry bodies and survivors back to their homes and hospitals in this county," a statement from the governor’s office said.

Among the survivors was Ms Elasa Awuor and her two children, who were only left with slight injuries.