By Brian Itava
At least 16 people are feared dead after a matatu lost control and plunged into a dam along Thika road. The matatu, which was headed to Nairobi town from Ruiru, Kiambu is reportedly to have been speeding at over 100 kilometers per hour. Something that is believed to be the major factor that caused the horrible accident. Until now, rescue operations are underway at the scene.
The body of the driver of the matatu bus was one of the bodies retrieved from beneath the dam water. From an account of an eye-witness, and actually one of the rescued passengers, the driver of the vehicle was speeding and refused to heed the warnings.
“I boarded the matatu in Ruiru headed to Nairobi CBD; it was unfortunate reaching at this point (Clayworks- between Githurai 45 and Roysambu) the driver lost control of the vehicle because he was speeding. He hit a Securicor vehicle and from that point I passed out and the next thing I heard was someone asking for anyone who could hear them to raise their hand, that’s what I did and they threw a huge rope and that’s how I got rescued,” said one of the rescued passengers.
The accident happened around 7PM on Tuesday and it took more than 12 hours for the police to arrive at the scene of the accident only to teargas a crowd of agitated residents who now demand for the shutdown of the dam.
“Since last night, no rescue operations have been seen from the government. There were only two police officers who were spotted here last night but they did not help with anything. We wonder if we really have the government in this country,” said one of the eyewitnesses.
Operations remained paralysed along the stretch on Thika Road for the better part of the day with the locals trying to retrieve bodies of about 10 people who are feared dead under the dam’s water.