A Sunday morning accident along the Eldoret-Nakuru highway has left seven people dead with many others rushed to hospital in with injuries.
Reports indicate that the accident happened after a speeding trailer rammed into a 14-seater matatu that had stopped at a traffic police checkpoint at the Eveready roundabout.
"On reaching the location of the accident, the driver of the vehicle reg.no KCG 355Y/ZE1279 lost control and rammed into a Ngata Sacco matatu reg. no. KBK 254C which consequently moved on and rammed into the other trailer KDB341D/ZG4149 ," a police report documenting the incident that was confirmed by Nakuru west Subcounty Police commander Francis Wahome reads in part.
"As a result of the impact, 5 people died on the spot and several others sustained serious injuries from both motor vehicles."
Five are reported to have died on the spot with two others succumbing to injuries sustained while being taken to hospital.
Among the lucky survivors was the conductor who had jumped out of the vehicle earlier and made his way to the police officers.
He noticed the oncoming trailer which had allegedly lost brakes speeding towards the matatu and dashed away to safety.
Police on the spot as lives lost in tragic accidents rise
Traffic police officers who line up along major roads have come under scrutiny in recent days with Kenyans questioning if some of them could be part of the problem by collecting bribes and looking the other way as traffic rules are flouted.
READ: Witnesses raise questions on Saturday accident that killed 10 & left 7 in hospital
Case in point is a recent accident in Makueni which killed 10 and left seven others in hospital.
Questions surfaced on how the 14-seater matatu which had reportedly passed through several checkpoints ended up with 17 occupants at the time of the accident.
At a meeting convened by Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen with stakeholders in the transport sector earlier this year, bribery surfaced as among the concerns and contributing factors to road accidents in the country.