Italian among five people killed in Kilifi road crashes

KILIFI COUNTY: Five people including an Italian have been killed in five separate traffic accidents in which seven were seriously injured along Malindi-Mombasa highway.

All the accident occurred within 12 hours on Saturday.

Confirming accidents Kilifi County Police Commander Mr Joseph Nthenge said the first incident occurred near Tamani Jua hotel in Malindi when a lorry owned by a salt firm knocked down a motorcyclist who died on the spot prompting a riot by his colleagues who burnt the lorry.

"It is unfortunate that in a few hours we lost five lives in a series of accidents,” he told the Standard.

The second accident, according to Nthenge occurred in Roka where a saloon car collided head on with a Nissan matatu killing the car driver on the spot and leaving several passengers in the second vehicle hurt.

Later an unidentified truck knocked down and killed a motorcycle rider who was carrying four passengers. After being hit the rider rammed into two bystanders.

In the logjam two people died instantly while the rest were rushed to Kilifi District Hospital in critical condition. According to Nthenge the lorry driver did not stop after the crash and police are pursuing the vehicle.

The fourth accident also occurred at Roka where a saloon car carrying four Italian nationals lost control and rolled several times. The unidentified Italian was killed and three passengers hurt.

The last accident happened at Vipingo area when two lorries collided. The two drivers were seriously injured and also rushed to Kilifi hospital.