Eight perish in grisly accident along Karatina-Nairobi highway

Residents of Ndia in Kirinyaga at the scene of an accident on the Karatina-Sagana road where eight people died on Thursday night when a lorry transporting sheep lost control and overturned. [PHOTO: KIBATA KIHU/STANDARD]

Eight people died and scores were injured after a tragic accident involving three lorries in Kirinyaga County on Thursday night.

Seven victims died on the spot at the Kangocho drift where a lorry ferrying goats from Wamba in Samburu to Nairobi’s Kiamaiko market experienced brakes failure and rammed an oncoming truck heading to Nanyuki.

The lorry swerved across the steep section of the road and hit another tipper that was heading uphill, hurling passengers who were on top of the vehicle and goats towards various directions.

Mr Omar Godana, a survivor who was admitted to Jamii Hospital said he was in the cabin of the lorry ferrying goats. “We left Wamba in Samburu East Sub-county at around 1pm heading to Nairobi, but on approaching the steep section in Kangocho, I heard an unfamiliar sound. I alerted the driver and he said, ‘hapa hakuna namna’ (there is no hope). He asked us to pray to God since the lorry had lost brakes,” said Godana.

He said the driver swerved to the right to avoid hitting a car ahead of them, but collided with the oncoming lorry. “I was hurled out of the vehicle through the windshield and woke up to find myself in hospital,” said Godana. The victim said he lost his brother who was among other passengers.

When The Standard on Saturday visited the scene about 30 minutes after the accident, we found hundreds of villagers and police struggling to remove bodies from the lorry’s wreckage. Hundreds of goat carcasses were also on the bloody scene. The rescue mission took the police the entire night, until yesterday afternoon.

Among those who died are drivers of the two lorries. Six people were rushed to Jamii Hospital, with the hospital administrator Nancy Gachau saying two of them, including a girl died while undergoing treatment. Another was referred to Kenyatta National Hospital.

Mwea West OCPD Samuel Seulel said it was not clear whether all victims travelling from Samburu were related. The OCPD noted that the lorry was ferrying more than 150 goats, and majority of them died in the accident.