Twelve people among them two children have perished in a head-on collision between a 10-seater van and a pickup truck at Nithi Bridge, Tharaka Nithi county along the Meru-Embu highway yesterday night.
According to Tharaka Nithi Police Commander Zacchaeus Ng’eno, the crash occurred when the van, travelling to Nairobi, collided with a Meru-bound pickup.
Preliminary police findings showed that the deceased included 10 adults and two children, all from the same van.
Two others in the pickup, including the driver, sustained injuries and were taken to a hospital in Chogoria.
The van was part of a convoy returning from a parental blessing ceremony in Meru.
“Seemingly the motor vehicle that was coming from the Meru direction is not a motor vehicle that regularly uses this road. We may assume that the driver did not keep to his lane as was expected of him.” The police commander said.
This comes barely a year after the then Transport Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen, now handling the Sports and Youth Affairs docket, announced a plan to straighten the road to eliminate the blindspot that has led to the loss of many lives.
“We could design that road to make it straight from the bridge up as you go towards Meru. We have a plan in the ministry of ensuring that our highways are monitored by digital cameras.” Murkomen said in 2023.
