One student from Chavakali High School died on Monday, April 1, while others sustained injuries after an Easy Coach bus they were traveling in was involved in an accident along the Kisumu-Kakamega Highway in Kisumu County.
The Easy Coach bus was headed to Nairobi carrying passengers among them students from Chavakali High School who were travelling home for the April holiday season.
In a statement on Monday night, the Kenya Red Cross confirmed the incident and assured that rescue operations had been initiated.
According to the statement, some 32 people from the accident were rushed to hospital for treatment.
“Thirty-two people have been swiftly taken to hospital following a tragic road traffic incident involving a PSV bus at the Kondele roundabout along the Kisumu-Kakamega Highway in Kisumu County,” Kenya Red Cross stated.
The cause of the accident was not immediately established.
10 Killed in Salama area accident
Elsewhere in Makueni County, 10 people died in another road accident involving multiple vehicles at the Salama area along the Mombasa-Nairobi Highway.
Also Read: NTSA Lists Four Conditions for School Buses Ahead of April Holiday
The vehicles involved included an 18-seater matatu operating under The Spanish shuttle which plies several long-distance routes, two trucks, a saloon car and a Naekana Sacco-registered 14-seater matatu.
According to a police report, the accident occurred at around 8.30pm when an Isuzu FSR truck headed to Mombasa took a sudden right turn and collided with the Spanish Shuttle matatu.
The resulting impact and sudden disruption along the usually busy highway then led to the involvement of several other vehicles in what led to the death of ten passengers in different vehicles.
The injured, according to Mukaa Sub-County Police Commander Barnabas Ng’eno, were rushed to the Sutan Hamud Hospital.
NTSA feels pressure of growing accidents
The two accidents on Monday add to the string of tragic traffic accidents reported in the recent pasts along major roads in the country.
Also Read: Drama as NTSA Impounds 14-Seater Matatu Carrying 31 Students
Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen and his Interior counterpart Kithure Kindiki have been put on the spot with questions about government’s laxity in enforcing traffic rules arising.
In response to the alarming trajectory, CS Murkomen reversed an earlier directive that withdrew officers from National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) from traffic enforcement duties. In the past one week, officers from the authority have led a nationwide crackdown exercise in collaboration with officers from the National Police Service.
The upshot of the crackdown has been the arrest of scores of motorists found operating in contravention of set traffic regulations.
Pedestrians and passengers have not been spared either, with NTSA vowing to ensure strict adherence to road usage regulations including use of designated crossing points and adherence to capacity set for various Public Service Vehicles.
