Date | 30 June 2023 |
---|---|
Location | Londiani, Kericho County, Kenya |
Coordinates | 0°10′36″S35°37′05″E / 0.17653°S 35.618°E |
Cause | A lorry carrying a shipping container veered off the road and ploughed into several vehicles |
Deaths | 52 |
Non-fatal injuries | 30 |
On 30 June 2023, a lorry carrying a shipping container went out of control and hit several vehicles, pedestrians and market traders on a road in Londiani, Kericho County, Kenya, killing at least 52 people and injuring at least 30. [1] [2]
The number of traffic collisions in Kenya has been swelling in recent years. [1] The area of the crash site is known for having frequent road incidents. [3]
Kenya has a road mortality rate of 27.8 per 100,000 people (per the WHO); typical for sub-Saharan Africa (where the rate is 27 per 100,000), but higher than, for example, the European Union, which has 6 deaths per 100,000 people per year. [2] This high rate is blamed on "driver error, poor roads and decrepit vehicles." [4] [5] On 24 July 2022, 34 people were killed when a bus drove into a river in Tharaka-Nithi County. [6] Kenya's National Transport and Safety Authority said that at least 4,690 people died in road accidents in Kenya in 2022. [7]
Africa accounts for about one-fifth of the world's road deaths, despite only containing 3% of the world's motor vehicles. Africa Transport Policy Program, which works on developing transportation policies, has referred to an "epidemic of road fatalities and serious injuries." More than 270,000 people die in vehicle collisions in Africa each year, and the World Health Organization projects that figure will nearly double by 2030, in part due rapid urbanization. [8]
A lorry carrying a shipping container lost control and collided into several other vehicles, pedestrians and market traders at a busy junction in Londiani. [2] [3] [7] The lorry hit minibuses, market stalls, boda bodas, and private cars. Fifty-two people were killed during the crash, making it one of the deadliest traffic collisions in Kenya in recent history. At least three people died in hospital. [1] At least 30 people were injured, with the number possibly being even higher. Witnesses said the driver was trying to avoid a bus that had broken down on the road. [9] Heavy rain interrupted rescue efforts. [3] The lorry was registered in Rwanda. The Kenyan Red Cross started a blood donation drive for the injured. [2]
The governor of Kericho County, Erick Mutai, said "[his] heart is crushed" by the crash, while Kenyan President William Ruto said, "The country mourns with the families who have lost loved ones in a horrific road accident in Londiani". [1] Transport minister Kipchumba Murkomen stated at a visit to the site that it was a "painful", "terrible" tragedy and promised to introduce new safety measures, with road safety awareness programmes being started, speed cameras being installed and the re-testing of public service and commercial vehicle drivers. Murkomen said the government planned to move street traders from roadside areas to designated markets to avoid similar accidents in the future. He also said to reporters that "Investigations have been launched to establish the cause of this accident but we urge drivers to be cautious and follow the rules." [2] [10]
A head-on collision is a traffic collision where the front ends of two vehicles such as cars, trains, ships or planes hit each other when travelling in opposite directions, as opposed to a side collision or rear-end collision.
On 18 November 1993, just after midnight, a minibus was involved in a fatal collision with a maintenance vehicle on the M40 motorway near Warwick, England. The minibus was transporting 14 children home to Worcestershire from a school trip to the Royal Albert Hall in London when it veered into the rear of the motorway maintenance lorry which was stationary on the hard shoulder. Twelve of the children—and their teacher who was driving—died in the crash, which is one of the worst on the British road network. The two survivors sustained minor injuries, as did the people in the motorway maintenance lorry.
A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. Traffic collisions often result in injury, disability, death, and property damage as well as financial costs to both society and the individuals involved. Road transport is statistically the most dangerous situation people deal with on a daily basis, but casualty figures from such incidents attract less media attention than other, less frequent types of tragedy. The commonly used term car accident is increasingly falling out of favor with many government departments and organizations, with the Associated Press style guide recommending caution before using the term. Some collisions are intentional vehicle-ramming attacks, staged crashes, vehicular homicide or vehicular suicide.
The 2010 Papua New Guinea bus crash was a collision of two buses in Papua New Guinea on 14 January 2010. At least 40 people were killed after a Route 100 (Highway) Coaster bus and a Route 3 public motor vehicle crashed head-on in Papua New Guinea's worst ever road accident. The accident happened 130 km outside of Lae, in Morobe province.
The Marhanets train accident occurred on 12 October 2010, at Marhanets, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine when a train collided with a passenger bus on a railroad level crossing. 43 people were reported dead and nine injured. The bus driver, whose actions allegedly caused the collision, was killed in the accident as well. The collision was the worst single road accident in Ukraine's history by number of victims.
The 2013 Oznobishino bus crash occurred on 13 July 2013 at about 13:00 local time when a bus carrying 64 people was hit by a KAMAZ truck in Oznobishino, Moscow Oblast, about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Moscow. At least 18 people died and another 60 people were injured, with 12 of them in a critical condition. 14 of the victims died at the scene and another four died in hospital. The bus had been travelling from Podolsk to Kurkino when the accident occurred, ripping its back half off.
The 2015 Tanzania road accident occurred on 11 March 2015 when a bus and two lorries collided in Tanzania. At least 41 people died and another 23 were wounded. The crash took place in Iringa Region.
The 2015 Puisseguin road crash occurred on 23 October 2015, at 07:30 local time. 43 people, including a three-year-old boy, died when a bus and a lorry collided in Puisseguin, a commune in south-western France.
The Perpignan crash occurred on about 4pm 14 December 2017 at a level crossing in the commune of Millas, in the French department of Pyrénées-Orientales, between a coach carrying high school students and a TER train, which connects Villefranche - Vernet-les-Bains and Perpignan stations.
In the morning of 10 July 2003, a Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) double-decker bus plunged off a bridge near the Ting Kau section of the Tuen Mun Road in Tsuen Wan, New Territories. The crash killed 21 people and injured 20.
On 20 August 2022, at least 35 people were killed in two separate bus crashes in Turkey. Despite their similarities, they are reportedly unlinked.
On 8 January 2023, 40 people were killed and 101 injured in central Senegal when two buses collided in Gniby near the regional capital of Kaffrine on the N1 national road.
Events in the year 2023 in Kenya.