Nairobi (EFE).- At least 45 people died this Friday when a truck carrying a trailer hit several vehicles and pedestrians on a highway in western Kenya, according to the Police.
The accident took place around 6:30 p.m. local time (15:30 GMT) at the Londiani junction in Kericho County.
“We have around 45 bodies and the number of victims may increase,” said the Rift Valley regional police chief (where Kericho is), Tom Odera, in statements collected by The Star newspaper.
Odera added that there are bodies trapped under the trailer as rescue operations continue.
A doctor on duty at the Kericho District Hospital, Collins Kipkoech, told reporters that 45 bodies have been received at the medical center’s morgue.
More than sixty people were rushed to different hospitals in Kericho and neighboring Nakuru County, where they received treatment.
The truck driver lost control
The truck driver apparently lost control and ran over pedestrians, shopkeepers and matatus (public transport vans) who were parked on the side of the road, according to eyewitnesses.
The deputy for Kericho in the National Assembly (lower house of Parliament), Beatrice Kemei, declared herself “saddened” by the “horrifying traffic accident” and sent her “condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones and prayers for the recovery of the wounded.