Horror as ten killed in road accident, all minors survive

The wreckage of the matatu that was involved in a road accident in Soy, along the Eldoret-Kitale highway, on January 3, 2025. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

Ten people perished in a horrific road accident in Soy, along the Eldoret-Kitale highway, Friday.

The ten, five men and five women, were travelling in a matatu from Kitale to Nairobi when a speeding lorry ferrying water pipes rammed it.

According to witnesses, the driver of the lorry which was heading towards Kitale, lost control and hit the oncoming matatu from its side at Chemoset junction, killing the driver and eight passengers on the spot.

Police reported that one more passenger, who was among five survivors, died upon arrival at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret where they had been rushed for specialised care.

Police officers investigating the horrific road crash said the Great Rift Shuttle Sacco matatu had arrived from Nairobi in the early hours of Friday and dropped passengers in Soy before rushing to Kitale to pick more travelers, and was involved in the tragic accident as it headed back to Nairobi through Eldoret.

The 9am accident cut short the return to work of the Nairobi-based residents, among them a nurse and businesswoman.

Devastated relatives of those who perished recounted the last moments with their kin who were returning back to work after the Christmas and New Year festivities.
Clare Namwenya, the mother of 24-year-old nurse Lillian Maswenje who perished on the spot, was uncontrollable.

The fallen nurse had boarded the ill-fated matatu at Matunda market, also along the busy Eldoret-Kitale highway, in the morning.

Ms Namwenya learnt through social media about the accident and called her daughter to confirm whether she was safe, only for the call to be picked by stranger who informed her to rush to Soy police station.

“My daughter is a young nurse and the only one with college education in the family. She was everything to me and her siblings. She came home for the holiday and was rushing back to Nairobi to relieve a colleague who had not traveled for the December holidays,” the agonised mother said.

“She had recently gotten a job as a nurse and the entire family was happy for her. I can’t believe that my daughter is no more. I hope she is fighting for her life. I have only found her luggage,” the distraught mother added.

Maswenje’s name was however in a list of passengers in the ill-fated matatu, who had been confirmed dead.

The family of Nairobi-based businesswoman Josephine Kamaizi, 40, who also perished in the road crash, said they lost a firstborn daughter, the family’s pillar.

Kamaizi’s mother Rose Mboya said her daughter was returning to the capital, where she had a business.

“Josephine was in high spirits. She was my firstborn daughter and I depended on her. We had spent time during the December holidays and she was returning to Nairobi to continue her business.

“I was called by Josephine’s father who had traveled away from a funeral, informing me that an accident had happened in Soy,” said Ms Mboya.

Minors who survived the crash are aged six, seven and 14 years, according to records at Soy police station. The age of one of them was yet to be ascertained.

Uasin Gishu County police commander Benjamin Mwanthi said all the four minors in the matatu survived. Mwanthi said the driver of the lorry escaped immediately after the accident occurred.