Four people were reported dead, and several were injured after a horrific road accident along the Meru-Nanyuki highway on Wednesday morning.
According to reports, the fatal crash occurred at approximately 1 a.m. in the Timau area when a Toyota Hilux pickup lost control and collided head-on with an oncoming Probox.
Police said the accident happened after the Hilux, which was traveling at high speed towards Nanyuki, suffered a mechanical failure when its right front tyre dislodged while the vehicle was in motion.
The driver of the pickup lost control of the vehicle following the tyre detachment, leading to the devastating collision with the Probox traveling in the opposite direction.
The Hilux was carrying three occupants at the time of the crash. Two passengers died instantly at the scene, while the driver of the Probox and a female passenger in the same vehicle also succumbed to their injuries on the spot.
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Four other passengers from both vehicles sustained serious injuries in the impact and were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, where they are receiving treatment for multiple injuries.
The bodies of the deceased were transported to the mortuary pending identification and post-mortem examinations, while the wreckage from both vehicles was towed to the local police station as investigations into the accident continue.
The tragic incident comes amid a worrying increase in road accidents across the country, with at least 16 people having lost their lives in separate crashes on Tuesday alone, just a day before the Meru incident.
Wednesday also witnessed another disturbing incident along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway in Gitaru, where a 14-seater matatu was set ablaze by angry boda boda riders after allegedly killing a 22-year-old motorcycle operator.
The matatu, reportedly operated by NNK SACCO, had hit the boda boda rider who was delivering a carpet. Witnesses said the vehicle was making a turn at an unsafe spot when it struck the rider, triggering outrage among fellow operators who blocked the highway and torched the vehicle.
A similar incident occurred on December 22 in the Salgaa area along the same highway, where irate motorcycle operators set fire to a 65-seater Kampala-bound bus after its driver allegedly ran over two people on a motorbike, killing them instantly.
