Four mourners set out from Mwingi Subcounty Hospital morgue on Thursday morning.
Their mission was to deliver a body collected from the mortuary to Katooni village in Mwingi North for burial.
They never made it to their destination. One would be brought back later in the day for preservation.
A few minutes past midday, the driver of the Probox they were travelling in lost control and the vehicle rolled.
The four were thrown out of the car and the casket dislodged from the luggage rack before the vehicle finally rested on its roof.
One of the occupants died on the spot.
The accident happened about 300 metres from Kamuwongo bridge on the Mwingi-Kyuso road.
When contacted, Mwingi Central subcounty police commander Peter Mutuma said he did not have details of the accident.
“Once the details come in, I will no doubt share [them] with you,” he said on the phone.
Kamuwongo chief Jane Mwende was among the first responders at the scene.
She said the accident happened some minutes after 12pm.
The survivors, including the driver, were rushed to a hospital in Mwingi town, Mwende said.
She said police from Mwingi Central took the body of the woman killed in the crash to Mwingi Subcounty Hospital morgue.
Mwende said it was initially believed a tyre burst had caused the accident but on inspection all the vehicle's wheels were intact.
“It appears it was a case of the driver losing control,” she said.
The vehicle belongs to a teacher at Ngakoni Primary School in Mumoni, Kitui county.
The casket, which had remained intact, was later loaded onto another vehicle and transported to Katooni for burial later in the day.
Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya
