Twelve people have been confirmed dead and two others survived in a gruesome accident caused by a head-on collision at the Nithi bridge along the Meru-Embu highway in Kenya.
This accident involving a Toyota Hiace van and a Toyota Hilux pickup happened on September 1, 2024, at the infamous black spot on the Nithi Bridge along the Meru-Embu Road.
According to the witnesses, the 14-seater van was traveling from Meru and was heading to Nairobi, while the Toyota Hilux pickup was traveling from Nairobi and heading to Meru. However, the driver of the Toyota Hiace was driving in the wrong lane, and when his car lost control, he had a head-on collision with the Toyota Hilux pickup.
They added that the Toyota Hiace driver might not have been a regular driver on the road, hence why he was driving in the wrong lane.
“The people who died were all from the Toyota Hiace van, and they included 10 adults and two children, and their bodies were strewn across the road in too much blood,’’ the eyewitnesses said.
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One of the deceased’s friends, called Kamathi, revealed that the deceased were her friends and had traveled to Meru for a friend’s parental blessing ceremony.
“We were heading back to Kajiado after the ceremony, but when we reached a steep descent, I saw the vehicle in front of us veering off the road, crossing the barriers separating the two lanes, and colliding with an oncoming pickup truck, then it fell down in the Nithi valley,’’ Kamathi revealed.
In an interview with journalists, the Tharaka Nithi police commander, Zacheaus Ng’eno, said that the 12 bodies belonged to the Toyota Hiace van and that the two survivors were of the Toyota Hilux pickup.
Ng’eno added that the head-on collision between the two vehicles might have happened because the driver of the Toyota Hiace was not conversant with the Meru-Embu Road.
“Despite many statements showing that the van might have lost control or had a brake malfunction, police are going to investigate what really caused the accident because every person is giving a different statement; however, I believe we will get the right statements from the two survivors of the Toyota Hilux pickup once they regain consciousness,’’ he said.
The two survivors were at PCEA Chogoria Mission Hospital receiving treatment and first aid.
He further urged drivers to be cautious while driving along the Nithi bridge and follow road signs because it is an infamous black spot for accidents that has claimed many lives in 2024.
The Nithi Bridge area has a notorious reputation for road accidents, with previous incidents leading to significant fatalities. For example, on April 7, 2024, four people died and several others were injured when the driver of a Kensilver bus lost control while descending the slope into the infamous spot between Chogoria and Chuka towns in Tharaka Nithi county.
