Survivors of grisly Kisii accident recount near-death experience

Sixteen patients are lucky to be alive after a fatal head-on collision between vehicles they occupied that claimed four of their fellow passengers at the Nyabigege area in South Mugirango on Saturday morning.

Twenty-year-old Aaron Okemwa, a long-distance truck driver, was a passenger on the ill-fated matatu which he boarded from Nyamarambe en route to Kisii, sitting next to the matatu driver.

From his bed, he recounts the near-death moment.

“Huyo dere wetu alikuwa anaendesha gari kwa kasi sana...mimi mwenyewe nilimkataza asiendeshe gari hivyo la.kusikitisha hakunisikiza... kuna mahali alifika akitaka kuovertake akaona mbele ni kubaya na hakuna mahali angeenda wakakutana head on na on coming matatu from kisii,” he tells Citizen TV.

He sustained broken lower limbs but doctors say he is out of danger.

“Kuumiwa nimeumwa sana...kichwa na ata miguu yangu sahii imevunjika,” he adds.

A few metres from Okemwa's room, Judy Agwata is also under the doctor's watch. She also boarded the kisii-bound matatu together with her two children, despite their bouts of pain they too are lucky to be alive.

“Kwa ukweli dereva wetu alikuwa anakimbishana na mwenzake kutoka nyamarambe waking'angania abiria, tulimkataza na hakutuskia, watu waliumia vibaya sana...wengine wetu tulikuwa na serious internal.injuries nashukuru watoto wangu wako salama,” he says.

A total of 19 victims were admitted to the Kisii Referral Hospital but two were not lucky to make it through.

“Two died here, we have 16 in our wards, one we had to refer to Moi Eldoret because he had serious spinal injuries...most of the patients brought here had multiple fractures however we've managed to stabilise them all,” says Dr Mariita Oimeke.

Locals on the busy Kisii- Migori highway continue to appeal for the erection of speed bumps on the busy stretch in a bid to avert similar accidents.