𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐢-𝐌𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐚 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐰𝐚𝐲

At least two people are feared dead following separate vehicle crashes along the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway near Salama, Makueni County, as the road remains under renewed scrutiny following another fatal accident in the same area.

The latest crashes were reported along the stretch between Salama and Sultan Hamud. Two trailers and a Toyota Fielder involved in separate collisions.

In one of the crashes, a trailer rammed into another truck, leaving the front section of the tractor head badly damaged.

Several people were also seen lying on the road as members of the public gathered around the wreckage.About 200 metres away, another crash involved a white Toyota Fielder whose front section was extensively damaged.

The collisions caused heavy traffic along the highway, with some motorists forced to use undesignated sections of the road to get past the affected areas.

Authorities had not issued an official statement confirming the reported deaths or explaining what caused the latest crashes by the time of publication. Motorists were, however, urged to exercise caution while using the affected stretch.

The latest incidents come just a day after a separate multi-vehicle crash at Mlima Kiu near Salama claimed the lives of 17 Catholic pilgrims travelling from Mombasa to the Subukia National Shrine in Nakuru County for the National Prayer Day.

The victims were members of St Mathias Mulumba Catholic Parish in Mikindani, Mombasa County. The Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa confirmed the deaths and later released the names of the 17 victims.

According to police, the October 3 crash began when a lorry travelling towards Mombasa allegedly moved out of its lane while overtaking and hit another truck.

The collision caused a chain of crashes involving several vehicles before the lorry collided head-on with a Toyota Hiace carrying the pilgrims.

Sultan Hamud Sub-County Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Stephen Mwangangi described the incident as a chain of accidents involving several vehicles.

“It was a chain of accidents.”

Police said the driver of the matatu and 12 passengers died at the scene, while the driver of the lorry and three other people travelling in the truck also died.

Several other people were injured and taken to hospital.The National Transport and Safety Authority has since opened investigations into the October 3 crash and identified the Mlima Kiu-Salama stretch as an accident black spot.

The authority has called on motorists to avoid dangerous overtaking and observe lane discipline as investigations continue.The repeated crashes have renewed calls for improvements to the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway, one of Kenya’s busiest transport corridors.

The proposed expansion of the roughly 461-kilometre corridor has been under discussion for years. Government plans for a wider highway date back to 2017, while the proposed KSh468 billion Usahihi Expressway has faced delays and changes in its approval process.

More recent government plans have focused on expanding the existing A8 corridor through a public-private partnership arrangement.

The proposed project is intended to increase the road from its current two-lane configuration to at least four lanes, although the implementation process remains ongoing.

For now, motorists using the Salama-Sultan Hamud section have been advised to slow down, maintain their lanes and exercise extra caution as authorities investigate the latest crashes.