NAKURU, Kenya, Oct 2 – The Driver of the ill-fated matatu that killed 14 relatives and left four others nursing serious injuries could have been drowsy or road fatigued.
This information emerged as preliminary investigations which include CCTV footage that captured the road crash on Sunday, September 28 showed that the Matatu driver did not even attempt to evade the head-on collision.
Stephen Githinji, a witness who was also involved in the accident said he was driving behind the ill-fated matatu when it was suddenly driven into the opposite lane.
“The road was very busy, and the vehicles were following each other closely, all of a sudden, the matatu driver entered into the opposite lane, ostensibly to overtake and did not go back to its rightful lane when he noticed an oncoming truck,” he said.
Githinji added that his car was slightly damaged in the accident because it was also hit by the truck as it veered off the road and into a ditch.
“I drove off the road to avoid being directly struck by the truck as it veered off the road following the crash,” he said.
He observed that the 14-seater matatu driver could have been drowsy of road fatigued claiming that he would have at least tried to avoid the accident if he (the matatu driver) was alert.
The matatu which belongs to Alsopps Sacco plies the Nairobi-Dandora-Murang’a Route.
The track driver, Juakali Vahavuka who sustained minor injuries on the arms, chest and head said he was shocked to see the matatu speeding towards his direction.
“The matatu was too close and in high speed for me to avoid a head-on collision, that section of the road was also too narrow to drive away,” he said.
A relative who is also the owner of the ill-fated matatu said the driver, Elijah Mburu could have been sleepy because they had whiled the previous night away chatting at their parent’s home in Kandara, Murang’a County.
“We sat into the wee hours of early Sunday morning chatting and cracking jokes as we awaited the long journey the following day and only had an hour or two of sleep,” said the relative.
In the accident, 13 family members died on the spot while a 14th one died the following day, September 29 while undergoing treatment at St. Josph Hospital in Gilgil.
Four other relatives are still hospitalised in different facilities within Nakuru County in stable condition.
The family was travelling to Solai area of Nakuru’s Rongai Sub-County for a family gathering when the accident happened.
