The wreckage of a car involved in a fatal road accident that killed five people on the spot at Tecahers area near Salgaa along Nakuru - Eldoret highway at the morning of January 1,2015. [PHOTO:KIPSANG JOSEPH/Standard]
Five people died in a road accident that occurred at Teachers area-Salgaa, along Nakuru - Eldoret highway as the world welcomed the New Year.
The accident that occurred at 2.30am Friday involved a passenger bus that was coming from Bungoma town heading to Nairobi and saloon car-Ipsum bearing a Ugandan registration that was heading to Eldoret from Nakuru town.
Two of the deceased aged between 17 and 22 years who were traveling in the saloon car died on spot while three others were rushed to Rift Valley General Hospital with serious injuries.
According to the area police boss Joseph Mwamburi, the saloon car was speeding and before the accident, it was trying to overtake a canter lorry that was headed to the same direction only to ram into the bus.
"The driver of the saloon car was speeding and on reaching a sharp corner, he was overtaking another vehicle only to ram into the passenger vehicle," said Mwamburi.
Mwamburi said the deceased were allegedly drunk during the accident and that they were club hopping as they welcomed the New Year.
He said nobody in the 52 seater bus was injured during the early morning accident.
The officer however said it has not been established if the driver of the salon car had a driving license because no identification documents were found in the vehicle.
"It has not been established if the driver of the personal vehicle had driving license because there was no driving license recovered. It is suspected he was a young boy who did not have knowledge in driving," he said.
James Njongu, a mechanic and a witness informed The Standard that the driver of the car was driving recklessly from Nakuru and overtaking uncontrollably.
Njongu said immediately after the accident, they rushed to rescue victims who were rushed to hospital but unfortunately five died.
"I was driving towards the same direction but the vehicle had loud music and the young men were speeding, an issue that made it difficult to prevent the accident," he said.
A nursing officer at the hospital Catherine Otieno said causalities were received at the hospital bleeding excessively; they were treated and later discharged.
"The victims had severe cuts on various parts of their bodies. They were stitched, treated and later discharged," said Ms. Otieno.
Their mutilated bodies are at Nakuru County morgue awaiting postmortem and identification as they didn’t have identifications cards.
The Rift Valley Provincial Traffic Enforcement Officer Mary Omari on her part said the region reported nine deaths on the eve of the New Year that occurred in different areas.
"The region reported nine deaths that were caused due to reckless driving," she said.
She cautioned drivers and road users to be keen to avoid increasing number of accidents in the region.
"Most accidents are caused at night when drivers are under alcoholic influence,'" she said.
The stretch of the road between Molo General Service Camp, Sachang'wan, Migaa and Salgaa are black spots with most accidents having been reported.
The damaged saloon car was towed to Salgaa police station for inspection.
