- Ten people died and 26 were injured in the road accident that happened in Katumba area on Friday morning.
- According to survivors the bus rammed into a stationary lorry that was carrying building materials that was by the roadside.
Image: STEPHEN ASTARIKO
Garissa County Referral Hospital is appealing for blood donations from wellwishers to assist victims of the accident that occurred along the Garissa-Nairobi road.
Ten people died and 26 were injured in the road accident that happened in Katumba area on Friday morning.
Majority of the victims are currently admitted at the hospital with multiple injuries.
According to survivors the bus rammed into a stationary lorry that was carrying building materials that was by the roadside.
The Garissa Referral Hospital Chief Administrator Mahat Salah confirmed that eight bodies were brought to the facility with 13 other passengers being critically injured.
Among the 13, he said two died at the hospital increasing the total number of the death to 10.
“Most of the casualties are in stable condition. Two are in critical state, one was treated and discharged while another one was amputated," Salah said.
"It is for this reason that we are appealing for well-wishers to come and donate blood that will go a long way in assisting the victims who lost a lot of blood through the accident,” he said.
Image: STEPHEN ASTARIKO
Abdirahman Mohamed from Mandera town who was treated and discharged sustained slight head injuries.
With a bandage on his head, he said he was in a deep sleep by the time the accident occurred after a day-long tiresome journey from Mandera town.
“ I can't tell exactly how it happened, I remember a big bang, extreme shaking and cries from the victims. I found myself thrown outside through the window of the bus, it was an extremely horrible accident,” he said.
Ibrahim Guracha, another victim blamed the driver of the stationary lorry for packing close to the road saying that had he packed at the right place then the accident would have been avoided.
Guracha, a civil servant working with the children's department in Elwak was travelling to Nairobi on work-related issues when the accident happened.
He developed a broken leg in the accident but thanked God for saving his life.
He however said that the accident had completely changed his life.
Five-year-old Mohamed Abdi survived the accident but lost his mother in the fatal accident.
Bangale Subcounty OCPD Ephraim Kimani said that all the bodies have since been identified.
Kimani said the Kenya Red Cross is currently contacting families of the victims.
The bodies are currently being preserved at the Garissa mortuary awaiting burial in accordance with the Islamic rites.