Lecturer loses wife and two children in road accident

By BOB ODALO bodalo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Sunday, June 5 2011 at 21:11

A lecturer’s plans of travelling to Europe for a study tour ended tragically after his wife, two children and a friend who drove him to the airport died in a road accident on their way back.

Mr Joshua Itumo of Tangaza College, was in the plane ready to take off when he decided to call his wife to inform her he was almost airborne.

But he was surprised when a traffic police officer received the call and broke the sad news to him. He cancelled the journey and disembarked from the plane.

His wife and two daughters had escorted him to the airport and left the airport for their home in Machakos after he boarded the plane.

With them was Mr Itumo’s long time friend Fred Kinyamasyo, a teacher in Limuru and a computer expert.

His wife, a deputy headteacher at a secondary school in Machakos, died together with his two children who had travelled all the way to wish their father a safe journey.

Mr Kinyamasyo and his last born son Abraham, were also killed in the accident on the Nairobi-Mombasa highway.

The accident occurred when Mr Kinyamasyo’s car was involved in a head-on collision with an on-coming lorry.

The five died on the spot near the Simba cement factory. On Sunday, Mr Kinyamasyo’s widow Anjelina Munini was lost for words as she recollected her last moments with her husband.

“It was a journey that I was to make, but my reluctance turned me into a mourner,” she said.

She said her husband called to inform her they were driving past Mlolongo trading centre towards Machakos.

“That was the last call. As if I had a premonition on what had happened, I felt numb before I received the sad news from Mr Itumo whom I thought by that time could have been flying to Rome where he was going for a one month course,” Ms Munini said.

Friends and relatives flocked Mr Itumo’s home to console him on Sunday.