Family mourns kin killed in road accident

By ERIC LUNGAI

A family in Vihiga County is mourning three of its members who were killed in a horrific road accident alongside four others.

The seven died when the driver lost control of the vehicle they were travelling before it rolled several times and burst into flames at Watemo village in Emuhaya. The vehicle had 18 passengers and the survivors were admitted to Vihiga Hospital.

“Death has robbed very important people our family and village at large. We are shocked beyond words and we even don’t know how to mourn their deaths,” said Byrum Atemo, who lost his wife, mother and a sister in the Sunday night tragedy.

Reports show that those who lost their lives were widows belonging to a self-help group and were on their way back from visiting one of their member’s daughters who stays in Kitale.

 The accident happened on their return visit way back from Kitale just a few metres from their homes.

The survivors, who are hospitalised, blame the driver for reckless driving.

“These women often visited each other and were always striving lives on independence. They also devoted their lives to seeing that the girl child does not suffer when calamities befall families,” Joel Atemo, a man who lost his mother said.

Wonderful times

He revealed that the women formed the widows group just to be self-reliant, as they did not want to be inherited after their husbands had died.

For Byrum Atemo, life will never be same after he lost his wife of fifteen years and who had borne him five children.

 “I have shared wonderful times with my wife who is no more. Having stayed with her for over fifteen years, we were so dependent of each other,” he said.

Her son, Henry Atemo, 15, says it will be difficult to live without their mother whom they loved dearly and who meant everything to them.

The women were also active members in the local church. Hannah Ambio, 44, who survived the accident and sustained burns on the face and left hand, says that although she is lucky to be alive, she is yet to come to terms with the lose of her friends.

“We begged the driver not to speed and he instead did the opposite. If he had been a little careful, maybe we couldn’t have lost so many lives when we were just very near our homes,” she told The Standard.  

On Thursday, the driver Stephen Kahiya, who had fled after causing the accident, surrendered himself to the police station in Luanda, and was later charged in Maseno Law Courts.

The bereaved families, who are planning for the burials of their loved ones, now want the Government to help conduct DNA tests to identify their kin as some of them were burnt beyond recognition.