Three people including two children were killed and two others injured in two separate road accidents in Busia County on Saturday. In the first incident, one woman died on spot after a motorbike she was travelling on was knocked down by a tractor at Ang’orom market along Busia-Malaba road. Two boda boda operators were injured during the accident and taken to Busia County referral hospital where they are receiving treatment.
Eye witnesses told West Media that the boda boda operator who was carrying the woman was trying to avert colliding with his colleague who was coming from the opposite direction when he was hit by the tractor owned by the Busia County government.
In the second incident, two children aged 15 and 6 years died after they were hit by a matatu near St. Mary’s Nambale primary school, a few kilometers from Nambale town along Busia-Mayoni road. Locals say the two boys were riding their motorbike besides the road heading to Tangakona market when the matatu from Bungomaline company hit them from after the driver lost control. One boy died on the spot while the second one died shortly after reaching Nambale sub county hospital where he had been rushed for treatment, “When the driver reached the school, he started swaying on the road before he hit the children who were on their side.”
Irate members of the public set the matatu ablaze. A fire truck from Olepito Sugar company arrived at the scene to put off the fire but the matatu had already been completely destroyed by the fire. The locals have decried increased cases of road accidents that have claimed lives of a dozen people from the area and called on Kenya National Highway Authority to erect speed bumps in the area, “Many people have lost their lives along this stretch from Tangakona market to Nambale town. There is no single bump to limit speed of vehicles. How many more deaths does the government want recorded here before it acts?” one of them posed.