Five people were killed and seven seriously injured when a matatu they were travelling in crashed in Bonde, Baringo County.
The driver lost control of the vehicle when it hit a pothole on the Eldama Ravine-Kabarnet road.
CRASH
The vehicle swerved, rolled several times down a small cliff and landed in a thicket.
The passengers were going for an engagement ceremony at Tebei Village, barely a kilometre from the accident scene.
Witness Wilson Kangor said: “I was at Tebei shopping centre when I heard a loud bang from the notorious Bonde. We ran towards there and found that a matatu had rolled down a cliff with four bodies scattered and their personal effects strewn at the scene.”
Residents said the passengers were lost and had asked for directions at Tuluongoi trading centre.
As they asked for directions, four people at the shopping centre also said they were going for the same ceremony and offered to direct the visitors. They then boarded the 8-seater matatu.
Two of the locals who boarded the matatu at the centre are among those who died.
TREATMENT
Baringo Central OCS Gabriel Mulei said that four people died on the spot while the fifth died while undergoing treatment at the Baringo County Referral Hospital in Kabarnet.
“Those aboard were going to an engagement ceremony and some were locals who had volunteered to direct them. Four of them – three women and the driver – died on the spot,” he said.
Seven passengers were seriously injured and three of them have been referred to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret. The others are being treated at St Mary’s Hospital in Eldama Ravine.
The bodies were taken to Baringo Hospital mortuary.
DANGER
Mr Musa Cheburet, a matatu driver who plies the route, said the road is dangerous especially to visitors who are unfamiliar with it.
He said it is on a steep area, it is winding, has many potholes and no road signs.
Mr Cheburet said many accidents occur in the area.
“We have raised our concerns over the years but little has been done to address the issue,” he said.
Last year, a vehicle carrying students of Sacho High School was involved in an accident at the same spot. The driver was killed.