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| The wreckage of the matatu that was rammed by a truck on the Nakuru-Eldoret Highway near Eldama Ravine killing 11 people. [PHOTOS: BONIFACE THUKU/STANDARD] |
By VINCENT MABATUK
Nakuru, Kenya: Eleven people were killed and one other injured after the 12-seater matatu they were travelling in collided head on with a lorry at Kware, Eldama Ravine on the busy Nakuru-Eldoret highway.
The lorry, which was transporting heavy construction metal rods, was heading to Eldoret, while the North Rift Shuttle was traveling to Nairobi from Eldoret.
The driver of the lorry and his conductor are believed to have fled the scene immediately the accident occurred and are said to be hiding in Koibatek forest.
Mutilated bodies
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The lone survivor who was in the back seat of the shuttle is recuperating at Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital in Nakuru. Eldama Ravine police said among the dead were nine men and two women and it took them hours to remove the mutilated bodies from the wreckage.
The lorry driver lost control of the vehicle while descending a hilly section of the road and hit the shuttle before dragging it for more than 40 metres off the tarmac road and finally landing on it. A Kenya Defence Force soldier was among those who perished.
“I was deeply asleep when I heard a big bang. Somebody shouted ‘my God’ but I cannot say who that person was,” said Moses Kube, a second hand clothes trader who had hiked a lift in the lorry.
The only thing he remembered seeing at the scene of the crash after exiting from the lorry cabin were bodies strewn with twisted metal and passengers’ personal belongings.
The cabin was thrown about five metres from the point of impact with the lorry engine crushing the shuttle from the right side into a wall.
The trader boarded the lorry at Kangemi market in Nairobi at around 9pm on Wednesday after paying Sh1,000 as fare on his way to Malaba to deliver his wares to clients.
Freewheeling
The bodies can be identified at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary in Eldoret. Eldama Ravine Sub County Deputy Commissioner Samson Macharia said it was likely the lorry driver was freewheeling while descending the sloppy section of the road hence could not control the vehicle.
“It is likely the driver and conductor of the lorry escaped from the scene immediately the accident occurred but a man hunt has been launched to trace the two,” said Macharia.
He urged drivers and road users to remain vigilant while using the road especially during the Easter holiday when many Kenyans are expected to travel to their rural homes.
