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26 killed in bus, tanker crash in Kenya

By Road Safety Hub reporter

At least 26 people died and several others were injured after a bus collided with a tanker in Kibwezi, about 194 kilometres from Kenya’s capital Nairobi.

Police say the crash occurred when the driver of the Buscar company bus attempted to overtake the tanker but was forced to swerve to avoid hitting another oncoming truck.

The bus hit the tanker and landed in a ditch.

The crash occurred on the Nairobi-Mombasa highway that is part of the Northern Corridor that connects Kenya to other East African countries.

Goods are transported from the Port of Mombasa to other towns in Kenya and to land-locked countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo.

The number of crashes on the corridor are significant. The National Transport and Safety Authority data showing that 18.1 percent of the total national fatalities (537) deaths in 2016 occurred on the corridor.

The data further shows that in 2016, 268 people were killed in traffic crashes between Nairobi and Mombasa.

The Northern Corridor cuts across 11 counties in Kenya namely Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa, Machakos, Kiambu, Bungoma, Makueni, Kilifi, Uasin Gishu, Taita Taveta and Busia.