A family suffered a tragedy after a woman who was travelling to Siaya County to bury her three-year-old son was burnt to death on Friday in an accident on the Kisumu-Muhoroni road.
Her husband and two other family members are among eight passengers nursing injuries in hospital.
Ms Jackline Onyango was burnt to death when the 14-seater matatu veered off the road, rolled several times and burst into flames.
The Friday evening incident happened after the front tyre of the matatu burst just before reaching Muhoroni trading centre.
Luckily, the casket bearing the body fell on the side of the road intact as the vehicle rolled.
The survivors are admitted at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu.
Three others were treated and discharged.
Mr Eric Onyango, who lost his wife in a road accident while en route to his son’s funeral, lies on a hospital bed nursing leg injury on August 27, 2016. PHOTO | ANITA CHEPKOECH | NATION MEDIA GROUP
A distraught Eric Onyango will now have to bury his wife and son.
The mourners were travelling from Nairobi to the family’s ancestral home in Sidindi, Siaya County for the burial of their child.
Mr Onyango said they had stopped earlier in Londiani to replace a flat tyre.
“Then we made another stop over to buy food. But shortly after we resumed the journey, a front tyre burst and the vehicle rolled thrice, each time throwing out some passengers. After the third turn, it exploded into flames,” said the 27- year-old who is nursing a broken leg in hospital.
His other son and sister-in-law Jemimah Akinyi are also nursing serious burns.
Mrs Keziah Adoyo, the mother of the deceased said she had sent Ms Akinyi to assist her bereaved sister to escort the body home.
“I am too confused to think straight. The loss is too much,” said Ms Keziah Adoyo, the Mr Onyango’s mother-in-law.
The two bodies are now lying at Ahero Hospital morgue.
Ms Vivian Anyango, a mourner who was in the matatu, said she was on the phone when the accident happened.
“The vehicle was not speeding. I just felt it swerve and people started screaming. The driver was struggling to control it. It rolled and later started burning,” said Ms Anyango who sustained burns on her right side of the body and a broken ankle.
The nurses, however, said the injured were in a stable condition.
-nation.co.ke
