A devastating road accident in western Kenya has claimed the lives of 25 people after a bus carrying mourners from a funeral veered off the Kisumu-Kakamega Highway and overturned into a ditch. According to a police report seen by the BBC, the crash occurred on Friday afternoon in a section of the road notorious for deadly accidents.
Authorities say the driver lost control of the vehicle, which had been hired to transport mourners from a burial ceremony in Nyahera to Nyakach, a distance of approximately 62 km (38.5 miles). The bus, belonging to a secondary school but not carrying any students, was being used exclusively for the funeral procession.
Police confirmed that 10 women, 10 men, and one young girl died instantly at the scene, with 20 others injured, five critically. Four more passengers later died in the hospital, bringing the total death toll to 25. The passengers, believed to be from the same extended family, were returning from the burial when tragedy struck.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, with Kenya’s National Transport and Safety Authority pledging to assist in determining what went wrong. Kenyan President William Ruto took to X (formerly Twitter) to urge authorities to hold accountable anyone found guilty of negligence and to enforce traffic laws more strictly to improve road safety nationwide.
Kenya’s Ministry of Health issued an urgent appeal for blood donations to help the survivors and expressed its condolences to the bereaved families. Officials also reminded motorists to exercise extreme caution on the country’s roads, especially given the alarming rise in deadly crashes.
This latest tragedy comes amid a string of fatal transport accidents in Kenya. Earlier in the week, six people died in a light aircraft crash belonging to a medical charity in Nairobi. On Thursday, nine people were killed when a bus collided with a train in Naivasha, and on Saturday, seven people lost their lives in another road crash near Nairobi.
Kenya continues to grapple with a high rate of traffic-related fatalities. Between 2020 and 2021, road deaths rose by over 20%, with 2021 alone recording more than 4,500 deaths and over 16,000 injuries. Road safety experts have repeatedly called for stricter enforcement of traffic regulations, improved driver training, and better road infrastructure to curb the rising number of tragedies.
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