Four die while heading to burial

Four die in a road accident at Mitheru. [File.]

Four people died on Thursday  when the vehicle they were travelling in veered off the road at Mitheru, Tharaka Nithi county.

The vehicle, reportedly from Nairobi, was heading to Kipkona in Igembe Central, Meru, where the passengers were to attend the burial of a business associate from Nairobi.

According to eyewitnesses the driver of the vehicle was trying to avoid a head-on collision with a vehicle that was overtaking when the driver presumably lost control, veered off the road and landed in a seasonal river.

The vehicle had passed Chuka and had reached Kaura Mijii in Mitheru.

According to Tharaka Nithi County Police Commander Zacchaeus Ng'eno, three others survived with various degrees of injuries and had been rushed to hospital.

"There was a motor vehicle that was heading in the Meru direction, the driver plunged into the bed of a seasonal river," said Mr Ng'eno.

Ng'eno confirmed to The Standard that there were seven passengers in the vehicle and that the driver was among the survivors.

"Three of those who succumbed are 3 women and a man. The survivors are one woman and two men," he said.

An eyewitness said there had been numerous accidents in the area before and appealed to the Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha) to erect road bumps and install appropriate road signs.

"It is unfortunate that they died while the driver was trying to avoid an accident," she said.