Bus Carrying Mourners From Funeral Overturns, Killing 25 In Kenya

Police says a bus carrying mourners from a funeral in southwestern Kenya has overturned and plunged into a ditch, killing  25 people. The bus was travelling from the western town of Kakamega to the city of Kisumu, where the accident happened. The driver lost control of the bus as it approached a roundabout at high speed and plunged into a ditch, according to Peter Maina, a regional traffic enforcement officer for the province of Nyanza, where Kisumu is located.

The vehicle lost control, veered, rolled onto the other side of the road, he told reporters at the scene. Among those who lost their lives were “10 women, and a girl aged 10, and 10 men”, he said. Twenty-nine people were initially reported injured in the crash, and four of them died later in the hospital, said Fredrick Ouma Oluga, the principal secretary in charge of medical services in Kenya. The crash shocked many in the region, sparking renewed calls for tougher road safety measures.

The media reported the incident took place on a section of road where collisions often occur. The cause of the crash was not clear and investigations were ongoing. The deadly accident follows an aircraft crash near the capital, Nairobi, on Thursday, when an air ambulance came down in a residential area, killing six people. The same day, media reported that a collision between a train and bus killed eight.

Road accidents are common in Kenya and the wider East African region, where roads are often narrow and in poor condition with many potholes. Police often blame road accidents on speeding drivers. In another accident on Thursday, nine people were killed in a bus crash in the town of Naivasha in the county of Nakuru. The victims were among 32 workers going to work when the bus crashed at a railway crossing, police said.