At least 34 people are dead in Kenya after a bus fell into a river Sunday evening, a site deemed dangerous due to previous accidents.
The bus departed from the town of Meru at about 5 p.m. on Sunday and was making its way to Mombasa when it made the 40-foot fall off the Nithi bridge at approximately 6:40 p.m. Witnesses claimed the driver appeared to lose control of the bus and that the vehicle rolled in the air first, then rolled several times down a rocky path before hitting the river bank below the bridge, according to Kenyan outlet the Daily Nation.
“Several accidents have occurred here but I’ve never seen anything like this,” local resident Martin Murimi said. “We were chewing miraa when we noticed the bus was moving at high speed. It first hit the rail and swerved back to the road as the driver tried to control it. Suddenly, I saw it hit the rails and drop down to the river.”
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The victims have been moved to mortuaries and hospitals, according to County Police Commander Donatha Chali. A total of 11 people survived the accident, but Tharaka-Nithi County Commissioner Nobert Komora warned the number of deaths could increase.
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Several fatal accidents have occurred at the bridge, with many people asking for a change in its location. In his 2017 campaign, Tharaka-Nithi Gov. Muthomi Njuki promised to speed up the reengineering of the bridge within his first 100 days in office, though that did not happen.
