Thirty-four passengers died after a bus swerved off a bridge and fell 40 meters into Nithi River valley below in central Kenya at a notorious accident blackspot, a local official said Monday.
The bus belonging to the Modern Coast company was traveling from the central town of Meru to the coastal city of Mombasa.
Rescue efforts resumed Monday morning and rescuers recovered more bodies and survivors after the Sunday evening accident.
Some of the injured are receiving treatment in nearby hospitals.
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The Daily Nation reports an initial investigation showed that the buses brakes might have failed.
Witnesses say the bus driver had lost control of the vehicle before it fell into the river.
Twenty people died on the spot on Sunday, while four died in hospital and another 10 bodies were recovered on Monday, county commissioner Norbert Komora told reporters.
“The search is still on and we are trying to retrieve the wreckage,” he said.
“Investigations are still going on to establish the cause of the accident that occurred at the Nithi blackspot.”
Reuters reports that Kenya’s transport regulator has ordered all buses belonging to Modern Coast to suspend operations pending an investigation into the crash.
Kenya’s National Transport and Safety Authority data shows 1,968 people died in road accidents in the first six months of 2022, compared to 1,800 in the same period last year.
The National Bureau of Statistics says 4,579 people died in traffic accidents last year in Kenya, up from 3,478 in 2020.
(AFP/Reuters)
