Death toll from Kikopey crash rises to 5, 1 dies on Thika Road
Wreck of the ill-fated North Rift shuttle. The wreckages were towed to Gilgil Police Station. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
Three of the eight who were hurt in the collision succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment at St Mary's Mission Hospital in Gilgil.
The crash involved four trucks and a North Rift shuttle, all heading towards Nakuru town.
According to Mr John Kiragu, a witness, the truck lost control before ramming the rear side of the shuttle.
Five people died and five others injured after a shuttle collided with a truck at Kikopey on Nairobi-Nakuru highway on Monday night.
Two passengers of the North Rift shuttle, travelling from the capital Nairobi, died on the spot, according to Gilgil Officer Commanding Police Division Serah Koki.
4 TRUCKS
Three of the eight who were hurt in the collision succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment at St Mary's Mission Hospital in Gilgil.
The crash involved four trucks and a North Rift shuttle, all heading towards Nakuru town.
According to Mr John Kiragu, a witness, the truck lost control before ramming the rear side of the shuttle.
“The lorry seemed to have developed mechanical problems. The matatu in turn bumped into other three trucks,” he said.
Transport along the busy highway was temporarily disrupted as police moved in to clear the wreckages that had blocked the busy road.
The wreckages were towed to Gilgil Police Station.
Elsewhere, one person died and two others were seriously injured in a collision between a matatu and a lorry on Thika Road.
BLACK SPOT
The early Tuesday morning crash happened near Blue Post Hotel and the injured were taken to Thika Level Five Hospital by Good Samaritans.
The matatu belonging to Kigumo Travellers Sacco was traveling towards Thika from Murang'a when it rammed the lorry that was making a U-turn on Thika road at 7.30am.
Wreckage of the 14-seater matatu that was involved in a crash on Thika Road, near Blue Post Hotel, on February 20, 2018. PHOTO | MARY WAMBUI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Thika police commander Willy Simba blamed the lorry's driver for the accident.
"We are going to press careless-driving charges against the lorry driver afterwards because he failed to check if there were cars coming as he crossed the highway leading to the accident," said Mr Simba.
Mr Simba, Thika traffic base commander Michael Lemaiyan and Mt Kenya Matatu Owners Association chairman Rufus Kariuki said the U-turn area had become a black spot and called on the Kenya National Highways Authority to block it.
"The last accident that occurred at this spot involving our members happened in August last year. We wrote to KeNHA requesting it to block the U-turn because we felt many motorists use it without due care but KeNHA did not act," said Mr Kariuki.
Reports by Joseph Openda, Mary Wambui and Macharia Mwangi.
