Four killed, 19 injured after bus hits stationary truck in Wajir

What you need to know:

  • Reports indicate that the bus rammed a transit lorry that had been parked by the roadside.

Four people have died while 19 have been injured after a bus rammed into a stationary truck between Habaswein and Laghboghol in Wajir County.

Wajir Traffic Base Commander James Cheptiony confirmed the Sunday morning incident.

“Early this morning past 2am, we received reports that a passenger bus was involved in an accident,” he said.

Reports indicate that the bus belonging to Sabrin bus company rammed a transit lorry that had been parked by the roadside.

According to eyewitness accounts, two people died on the spot while the other two died while receiving treatment.

Among the dead is a Kiambu-based female police officer, a conductor and two passengers.

At least 50 passengers were travelling in the vehicle when it hit the truck.

Four Kenya Defence soldiers were also injured during the Sunday morning incident. They were later airlifted to Nairobi for specialised treatment.

The injured were rushed to Habaswein District Hospital where they are recuperating.

HEAVY DUST

In an interview with Nation, Mr Ahmed Yusuf who was among the survivors said  they were following another bus before the crash and it appeared the driver could not clearly see the parked lorry due to the heavy dust that had been left behind by the other bus.

“The driver could not clearly see the road because of the dust before he rammed into the lorry that had stalled on the roadside,” he said.

Another passenger, Mr Mohamed Abdi, said that he was asleep when the incident happened, adding thet he was lucky since he was seated at the back of the bus.

Mr Wilson Kirwa who was also travelling in the same bus said that they were lucky the driver was driving at a low speed and he also said the heavy dust had compromised visibility of the road.

“We were lucky the driver was not speeding because the accident could have been worse,” he said.

This incident comes a week after another bus that was travelling from Mandera was involved in a crash along Tarbaj-Wajir road injuring four people.