Nakuru Man Recounts Receiving News Of Wife’s Death In Eveready Accident: “Nilipata Kiatu”

• Emotions soared at Nakuru City mortuary as families identified their loved ones among the accident victims
• Benard Otara heartbreakingly confirmed his wife's death, sharing the last moments and a poignant conversation before the tragedy
• Otara, fighting tears, recounted the painful process of identifying his wife after the accident and finding her shoe among the debris at the scene

Didacus Malowa, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings over three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.

Nakuru - Families of victims of the New Year's eve accident at Eveready roundabout along the Nakuru-Eldoret Highway are still coming to terms with the death of their kin.

Emotions ran high at the Nakuru City mortuary as the families arrived to positively identify their kin's bodies.

What were Benard Otara's last words with his wife?

Benard Otara, who positively identified his wife, Hellen Kemunto, among the victims, said she had left home to go to the market and restock the vegetables in the house.

He disclosed that they had spoken before she left, and moments later, his eldest daughter arrived to break the tragic news.

Struggling to hold back tears, Otara said her daughter asked what her mother was wearing when she left the house.

Otara said he went to the accident scene accompanied by his son, where he picked his wife's shoe among the debris and headed to the mortuary.

"So, Mum was wearing what shoes? I told her they were pink shoes, and she had a handbag. I told my son, and we started walking towards Eveready. Upon reaching Eveready, I found a shoe on the road. I brought that shoe here, and I found Mum lying down," Otara narrated.

Otara said he was left with five children and a granddaughter, adding that he didn't know how to support my family.

What caused the accident

In the Sunday, December 31 incident, seven lives were tragically lost as others sustained various injuries.

The accident happened after a truck rammed into a stationary 14-seater matatu, pushing it to hit another truck.

A report by Mtaa Wangu revealed that the truck might have had faulty brakes as it rushed downhill, frantically hooting at other vehicles on the road.

Mirriam Nyawira, a witness, said the matatu, on the other hand, had been flagged down by traffic police officers at the roundabout and had stopped on the side of the road.

She explained that the matatu driver likely did not hear the lorry hooting before it rammed into his vehicle.

Onlookers loot maize after fatal accident

In a related report, a section of Nakuru residents took advantage of an accident to loot bags of maize from a truck involved in the carnage.

They were captured carrying the bags from the lorry in haste as police officers tried to restore order at the scene.