Kenya bus crash kills at least 24 as government vows road safety crackdown

Church mourners dice connected Kenya’s Nairobi-Mombasa Highway weeks aft different clang killed 17 people.

A autobus carrying mourners has collided with a motortruck connected a large road successful southeastern Kenya, sidesplitting astatine slightest 24 people, constabulary say.

The clang happened successful the Kanga country adjacent Mtito Andei, connected the roadworthy linking the capital, Nairobi, to the coastal metropolis of Mombasa, astatine astir 7:45am (04:45 GMT) connected Sunday, October 25.

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Another 24 radical were injured, infirmary officials said.

The deaths came conscionable implicit 3 weeks aft different clang connected the road killed 17 people, prompting caller authorities promises to amended roadworthy safety.

The autobus belonged to Power of the Word Church International successful Mombasa and was taking passengers location from their pastor’s ceremonial successful occidental Kenya.

They had stopped for meal soon earlier the collision, according to 1 survivor.

The different conveyance was a motortruck transporting cement.

Violet Mwandonyi, who survived the crash, told the Associated Press connected Sunday that she remembered passengers crying retired for passing motorists to help.

She said she did not cognize what had happened to her 2 children, who had been travelling connected the bus.

The origin of the clang remains nether investigation.

Makueni County Commissioner Abdullahi Khalif, the government’s elder head successful the area, told Kenyan paper The Standard that the autobus operator had tried to overtake respective vehicles earlier colliding with an oncoming truck.

Kenya’s National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) besides identified unsafe overtaking arsenic a imaginable cause. Another subsister said the motortruck struck the autobus from behind.

On October 3, a clang involving several vehicles killed 17 people, astir of them Catholic pilgrims travelling to a supplication site, adjacent Salama connected the aforesaid highway.

Police said a motortruck operator had tried to overtake different motortruck earlier the collision.

The NTSA had identified that agelong of roadworthy arsenic an country with a past of crashes.

President William Ruto offered condolences connected Sunday and ordered inspections of vehicles utilized for nationalist transport.

Transport Minister Davis Chirchir said the authorities would measurement up enforcement against speeding and unsafe overtaking, amended unsafe sections of roadworthy and fortify grooming and checks for commercialized drivers.

In a connection connected Sunday, Chirchir said the authorities would enactment with police, section authorities and lawmakers connected the measures, including person oversight of buses and dense goods vehicles.

“We cannot proceed treating roadworthy information arsenic concern arsenic usual,” helium said, calling for stronger enactment to trim deaths.

Figures from the NTSA, reported by Kenyan media, amusement that 5,009 radical died successful roadworthy crashes successful 2025, with 2,150 deaths recorded successful the archetypal fractional of 2026.

The authorization estimates that astir 20,000 crashes hap crossed Kenya each year.

Following Sunday’s collision, it called for roadworthy crashes to beryllium declared a nationalist disaster.