Narrow escape for 30 persons injured in crash

A total of 30 people among them 26 learners narrowly cheated death after a bus they were travelling in was involved in a road accident at Sachang’wan black spot along the Nakuru-Eldoret Highway yesterday.

Molo Sub-County Police Commander Timon Odingo said 26 pupils in the company of three teachers and a non-teaching staff were injured during the accident.

 “A bus belonging to Rockside Academy in Nairobi and two other cars were involved in the accident. They were hit from behind by a speeding crane,” said Odingo.

 According to the police boss, the pupils were heading back to Nairobi after participating in the music festivals currently ongoing in Uasin Gishu county.

 “Luckily, none of the injuries were fatal. We have all those injured recovering in Molo and Nakuru after they were rushed by good samaritans. We managed to clear the scene swiftly and reopen the road,” said Odingo.

 Witnesses revealed that the accident was caused by the crane whose driver appeared to have lost control of it for several kilometers downhill.

 “I was in a matatu and the crane overtook us downhill at high speed. Traffic police flagged it but the driver was unable to stop. Few hundreds of meters downhill, the crane started swerving,” said Phillip Yegon.  He explained that the crane hit three vehicles from behind and threw them off the highway.

 “All we could see was dust before the crane ahead of us landed in a ditch off the highway. We stopped and managed to retrieve its driver who was stuck between various parts of the crane,” said Yegon.

 26 pupils and 3 teachers and the accompanying staff member were rescued from the bus wreckage and rushed to Molo Sub County and Nakuru Level Five hospitals.

 “Unfortunately, one person who was among the responders stole a piano from the bus. We managed to apprehend him and handed him over to the police,” said Yegon. Alex Mutai, a resident, said that the accident could have been worse.

 “The median barrier separating traffic flowing in opposite sides helped stop the crane. It could have crashed into oncoming vehicles whose impact would have been more devastating,” said Mutai.

 The residents called on the Kenya National Highways Authority to come up with more measures of reducing speed of vehicles including speed bumps, rubble strips and runaway ramps.

Nine people were seriously injured on Friday after a 14 seater matatu was hit by a lorry at the Migaa black spot along the Nakuru-Eldoret highway.

The Nissan matatu is said to have veered off the road landing into a ditch before passengers who were heading for a graduation ceremony in Thika were rescued and taken to hospital

He said out of the nine, two passengers were rushed to the Nakuru Teaching and Referral Hospital with serious injuries while 7 are receiving treatment at Molo level hospital . A medic at the hospital has confirmed that out of the 7 victims they received, Four have been taken to Nakuru PGH while 3 were on stable condition

Five people, including four foreign tourists, died Monday in a road accident along a busy highway in Narok County in southwestern Kenya, police confirmed.

The accident, involving a truck and a Land cruiser which was carrying the tourists, occurred at 3:10 p.m. (1210 GMT) along Narok-Mulot highway, national police spokesperson Resila Onyango said.

Onyango said three people, including the driver, died on the spot, while two others succumbed to injuries at a local hospital.

“Four unknown passengers, three of them are of African race and one female Caucasian died on the spot while one male unknown Caucasian died on his way to hospital,” Onyango said. Narok traffic base commander Kipchumba Rotich said investigations are underway to establish the cause of the accident.

Statistics from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) showed that more than 1,700 people have died in road accidents in the past seven months alone. An estimated 3,500 Kenyans die in road accidents annually despite concerted efforts by the state and the private sector to promote safety on the highways, according to the NTSA.