At least 25 people have lost their lives in western Kenya after a bus transporting mourners from a funeral overturned along the Kisumu-Kakamega Highway, one of the country’s most accident-prone routes.
Police say the incident happened on Friday afternoon when the driver lost control of the vehicle, sending it off the road and into a ditch. The crash claimed the lives of 10 women, 10 men, and a young girl on the spot, while four more passengers succumbed to their injuries in hospital. Another 20 people were hurt, five of them critically.
Authorities believe most of the victims were members of the same extended family returning from a burial in Nyahera to Nyakach, about 62 kilometers away. The bus, normally used by a local secondary school, was not carrying students at the time.
The cause of the accident remains under investigation, with the National Transport and Safety Authority pledging to support police inquiries.
Kenya’s Ministry of Health appealed for blood donations to aid survivors and extended condolences to the families. President William Ruto, writing on X, urged swift action against any negligence and called for stricter enforcement of traffic laws.
The tragedy comes amid a spate of deadly incidents on Kenyan roads. Earlier in the week, six people died in a Nairobi plane crash, nine perished when a bus collided with a train in Naivasha, and seven others were killed in a separate road accident near the capital.
Kenya has long struggled with high rates of traffic fatalities. Government data shows road deaths jumped by more than 20% between 2020 and 2021, with over 4,500 people killed and 16,000 injured in 2021 alone.