A sombre mood has engulfed the Rongai home of Ann Njeri, one of the victims of the Nithi Bridge accident along the Meru-Nairobi highway which happened on Saturday.
The accident claimed the lives of 12 people including children.
Njeri and her one-year-old daughter perished in the accident involving a Nairobi-bound hired private Toyota Hiace and a Toyota Hilux headed towards Chogoria at around 9 pm.
As family and friends gathered to mourn their loved ones on Sunday, the clouds seemed darker and the air heavy with grief.
Remembering the last moment she had with Njeri, her relative Lucy Kiende told a local media house that she was with the deceased on Friday.
"On Friday we were with Njeri who told me they (The Vision Group) were going to Karina, Meru. When we parted ways, she was ready for the trip," a visibly sad Kiende said.
Njeri's father-in-law Julius Kamau said they received the sad news at 3 am on Sunday.
"We received news that there had been an accident in Meru. Then we were told that my daughter and her daughter had died there," he said.
The 22 members of The Vision Group had visited the parents of one of their members to seek blessings.
Tharaka Nithi police commander Zacheaus Ng'eno said the dead included 10 adults and two children. They were all in the same car.
Two other people in a pickup including the driver were injured and rushed to a hospital in Chogoria.
Ng'eno said the driver behind the Nairobi-bound vehicle was not conversant with the road and thus swerved off its lane to collide with the oncoming car headed to Meru.
"The vehicle was new to the Meru-Embu road and was in the wrong lane when the accident happened," Ng'eno said.
"Preliminary investigations show that the motor vehicle coming from the Meru had not regularly used this road. We may assume that the driver did not stick to his lane as expected hence the head-on collision."
A survivor and member of the vision group Emily Nzasu said their matatu was the first to veer off but the driver controlled it.
She said the accident happened after an overtaking went wrong and the driver lost control.
Nzasu said the driver then veered off to the lane heading towards Meru leading to the head-on collision.
