At least 10 people were Wednesday November 13 evening killed and others 20 injured following an accident at the Iguhu River Yala bridge along the Kisumu -Kakamega road.
The accident involved a fuel tanker and two matatus, police spokesperson Dr Resla Onyango said.
The injured were rushed to hospitals with multiple injuries.
She said the driver of the trailer was missing after the accident that occurred at about 6 pm
The tanker was headed for Kakamega from Kisumu when the driver lost its control and rammed onto two matatus that were on the roadside.
On reaching at the location of the accident, witnesses said the driver hit a bump, lost control of the trailer l and veered to the right side of the road as one faces Kakamega direction and hit two matatus.
One of the matatus was being driven by unknown driver carrying unknown number of passengers while the second one l from Transline was carrying 14 passengers.
The Matatus were being driven from Kakamega heading towards Kisumu direction.
“Due to the impact, 10 people died on the spot and 20 people were injured,” said Dr Onyango.
She said the injured were rushed to hospital in serious condition while the bodies were removed to Kakamega County General and Referral Hospital Morgue to await identification and postmortem.
She added police are looking for the drive who escaped the scene.
“We believe he escaped for his own safety and hope he will surrender for investigation into the tragedy,” she said.
The accident affected traffic flow on the busy highway for a while before police cleared the scene and towed the affected vehicles to a nearby police station.
The accident comes in the wake of a campaign to address such crashes.
Police statistics show close to 4,000 people have died and many others were injured in separate accidents in the past year alone.
Some 3,369 fatalities have been reported from January to September 16, 2024 following road accidents.
The statistics reveal that the highest number of fatalities were pedestrians, totaling 1,281.
Motorcyclists followed with 825 deaths, while 654 passengers and 281 drivers also lost their lives in these accidents.
Additionally, a staggering 16,979 individuals were affected by road traffic incidents during these first nine months after they were injured.
Compared to the same period in 2023, when 3,151 people died in road accidents, this year’s figures represent a slight increase.
“We have observed a distressing increase in road traffic accidents nationwide,” Onyango said.
In light of these developments, there is a renewed focus on improving road safety protocols and ensuring that traffic regulations are enforced more effectively.
The National Transport and Safety Authority says the leading causes of fatal crashes included hit-and-runs, tyre bursts, and vehicles and motorcycles losing control.
Also overtaking improperly and failing to keep the proper lane resulting in head-on collisions are mentioned as causes.
More than 4,000 people are killed annually in accidents.
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