Mandera-bound bus crashes, kills three after reaching destination

BY ADOW JUBAT

Elwak, Mandera County: Three passengers were killed and over 20 others sustained multiply bodily injures, after the bus they were traveling in was involved in gruesome accident near Elwak town, Mandera county.

The bus which left Nairobi on Tuesday morning and was headed to Mandera border town, crashed at Udoley junction at 8 am, after veering off the bumpy road.

Mandera county police Commander Noah Mwivanda said one person died instantly at the scene of the accident while the two others died as they were being rushed to hospital by rescuers.

He said the cause of the accident could not be immediately established. However, he hinted that speeding could have contributed to the crash.

“The vehicle registration no KAV 024 A, Nissan UD make was involved in a bad crash at Udoley area some 3 kilometres east of Elwak town and the rescuing operation led by the security personnel is underway” he said.

Mwivanda said, the injured passengers, some of whom were pulled out of the bus wreckage were rushed to Elwak sub- county hospital undergoing treatments.

The county police chief accused public service vehicle drivers of leaving the safety of their passengers to traffic police noting that many drivers resume their reckless driving as soon as they are out of a police roadblock.

“Many drivers only act responsibly when they are approaching police barriers. They must consider the safety of their passengers, with or without police presence,” he said.

Elwak Sub-county Deputy Commissioner Julius Otieno called on long distance drivers to be cautious on the road to avoid unnecessary loss of lives on the road.

He said the licenses of bus companies found to be violating traffic rules will be revoked as the Government is very serious about ending road carnage in the country.