Four youths perished on Monday in a head-on collision between a lorry and a car at Ol Kalou in Nyandarua.
The accident happened at Teachers as their driver tried to avoid a pothole on the Nyahururu- Gilgil road. The victims, aged between 16 and 26, were identified on Tuesday.
Bernard Ngaruiya Kimani was 23, Victoria Njoki Mungai, 19, Joseph Wachira Wanjiru, 26, and Simon Wachira Ndirangu, 16.
Their driver, 23-year-old Godfrey Maina Ndirangu, is in critical condition at Nakuru Provincial General Hospital. Lorry driver John Mwangi Njoroge, 52, was unhurt.
The youths were headed to Rironi in Limuru, where they were bodaboda operators. They had spent the weekend at Karangi village in Laikipia where Maina had gone to introduce his fiancée, Victoria, to his parents. Simon was his younger brother.
Victoria and Joseph Wanjiru were from Rironi while Kimani was from Kiroe in Ndeiya, Limuru.
Kimani, Wanjiru and Ndirangu died on the spot after Maina lost control of the car as he swerved to avoid a pothole and crashed with the lorry headed to Ol Kalou. Victoria was pronounced dead on arrival at J.M. Kariuki Memorial Hospital.
It took the police hours to identify the victims and trace their next of kin as their phones and documents were stolen after the accidents.
Benson Wachira, a Karangi village elder described the Ndirangu brothers as hardworking young men.
Wachira urged the government to fill potholes and ensure that roads are well maintained.
He appealed to those who stole from the dead to return the phones and documents.
“They are no different from murderers. Those phones should be tracked and the culprits brought to book," he said.
Chief John Kamau of Rironi said the youths had hired the car to travel to Ndirangu’s home. He said they were well known in the area as good people.
His assistant Racheal Wandati told the Star by phone that “they were very good, humble and respectful.”
Her Kiroe sub-location counterpart Charles Njeru said, “The whole village is mourning. It is unfortunate that we lost such young and promising lives."