ROAD CARNAGE

UPDATE: Death toll rises to 18 in Mombasa-Nairobi road crash

Casualties were seen lying on the road with witnesses trying to help them.

In Summary

• Coast regional police boss Titus Karuri said all the victims were in the matatu. 

• He warned that the death toll may rise because those who were rescued from the wreckage were in bad condition.

Vehicle involved in a fatal accident along Nairobi Mombasa highway on Friday, June 8, 2022.
Vehicle involved in a fatal accident along Nairobi Mombasa highway on Friday, June 8, 2022.
Image: COURTESY

The death toll in Friday's road accident that involved a matatu and a truck along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway has risen to 18.

Coast regional police boss Titus Karuri said the accident occurred at Taru in Kwale county.

Earlier, Karuri had said the death toll was expected to rise as those who were wounded were in bad condition. 

"So far we have 18 people dead out of the crash but the death toll may increase," he told the Star on the phone.

Karuri said that the passenger vehicle may have been overloaded.

Bodies of casualties were seen lying on the road as the first people to arrive at the scene tried to help them.

The road is notorious for fatal accidents, claiming more than 3,000 lives annually according to official data. 

Friday's accident came just two days after four people died in a road crash in Machakos county on Wednesday.

The dead included three adults and a child.

Machakos deputy police commander Mose Nthiwa said the vehicle was overloaded as it had 17 passengers on board during the 9 am crash.

(Edited by R.Wanjala)


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