A gruesome accident has claimed the lives of Eight people on Thursday morning while 14 others were injured at Ng'onyi on the Nkubu-Meru road, three kilometres from Meru Town, Kenya..
Five people, including one woman, died on the spot while three other women succumbed to injuries while receiving treatment at Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital.
The injured were receiving treatment at the hospital with some being in critical condition.The accident, which occurred at about 10am, involved a lorry and a matatu.
The lorry was headed towards Meru Town while the matatu was ferrying passengers to Chuka.The dead and the injured were occupants of the matatu.
According to witnesses at the scene, the lorry was speeding and overtaking at a corner before it rammed into the oncoming matatu.
Onlookers claimed that the occupants of the lorry were thrown out through the windscreen and they landed on a farm a few metres from the road.“The lorry was speeding as it attempted to overtake another vehicle resulting in a head-on collision with the matatu,” said Imenti North OCPD Sammy Kosgey.
The matatu was badly damaged and the driver was among those who died on the spot.According to Deputy County Commissioner Jim Njoka, the lorry driver and the turnboy escaped unharmed and immediately fled from the scene of the accident.
DN
