Grisly Naivasha crash injures 11

By Antony Gitonga

NAIVASHA, KENYA: Over 100 passengers escaped death narrowly after four vehicles including three buses were involved in a grisly accident along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway. Eleven passengers were seriously injured during the early morning accident near Marula 5kms from Naivasha town.

The accident caused a massive traffic snarl-up after a section of the road was blocked forcing motorists to seek alternative routes.The accident occurred after a lorry heading to Western Kenya stalled on the busy highway due a mechanical failure.

A witness James Muchemi told how a bus, heading in the same direction rammed into the rear of the stalled trailer. Muchemi said that as well-wishers rushed to rescue the passengers, another bus heading in the same direction rammed into the rear of the first bus.

“It was raining and more drama unfolded when a third bus rammed into the second bus blocking a section of the road,” he said.

Muchemi said that some of the passengers received head and hand injuries and were rushed to Naivasha district hospital. Confirming the incident, Naivasha OCPD Charles Kortok said that the injured were stable and out of danger.

He attributed the accident to the heavy rains pounding the area at the time adversely affecting visibility.

“We call on drivers to be cautious and avoid speeding at this time when there are so many vehicles on the highway,” he said.On speeding, Kortor said that the introduction of a speed gun on the highway had seen several motorists arrested this year.

“We are happy to note that the number of speeding cases have continued to drop from the initial 50 to around 15 arrests per day,” he said.He said that they had increased officers on the highway so as to deal with errant drivers and passengers.

“We call on passengers to avoid overloaded vehicles and we advice drivers to avoid speeding,” he warned them.