A collision between a bus carrying church mourners and a truck transporting cement on a major highway in southeastern Kenya has left at least 24 people dead and another 24 injured, according to police and hospital officials. The crash occurred in the Kanga area near Mtito Andei on the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway at approximately 7:45 a.m. local time on Sunday, October 25. The vehicle belonged to the Power of the Word Church International in Mombasa and was transporting passengers back home following their pastor’s funeral in western Kenya. Survivors reported that the group had paused briefly for breakfast shortly before the tragedy occurred. Makueni County Commissioner Abdullahi Khalif stated that initial indications suggest the bus driver attempted to overtake several vehicles before colliding head-on with the oncoming cement truck, though another survivor recounted that a truck had struck the bus from behind. The exact cause of the accident remains under active investigation by authorities. Violet Mwandonyi, a survivor of the crash, recalled passengers crying out for assistance from passing motorists in the immediate aftermath while expressing uncertainty over the safety of her two children who had also been aboard the vehicle. The disaster comes just over three weeks after another multi-vehicle collision on the same vital transport corridor killed 17 people, primarily Catholic pilgrims traveling to a prayer site near Salama, on October 3. In that incident, police reported that a truck driver attempted to overtake another heavy vehicle before the crash, highlighting a stretch of road that the National Transport and Safety Authority has repeatedly flagged for its hazardous history. Following Sunday’s tragedy, President William Ruto issued condolences and ordered comprehensive inspections of public transport vehicles across the country. Transport Minister Davis Chirchir announced that the government intends to intensify enforcement efforts against speeding and unsafe overtaking, address dangerous road geometry, and tighten training and licensing checks for commercial operators. Chirchir emphasized that authorities will collaborate closely with police, local governments, and lawmakers to increase oversight on buses and heavy goods vehicles, declaring that road safety can no longer be treated as routine business. Official statistics from the National Transport and Safety Authority indicate that 5,009 individuals died in traffic accidents throughout 2025, with an additional 2,150 fatalities registered during the first half of 2026. The authority estimates that approximately 20,000 crashes take place annually across Kenya, prompting fresh calls from safety advocates and officials for the country’s road accidents to be formally declared a national disaster.
