MAKUENI, County—At least 22 people have died after a passenger bus collided head-on with a lorry at Kanga area, past Mtito Andei, along the Nairobi–Mombasa Highway, in another deadly road accident on the busy transport corridor.
The accident occurred at around 7am on Sunday, October 25, 2026, with the death toll rising from an initial 20 after two more victims succumbed to their injuries.
Makueni County Commissioner Abdullahi Khalif confirmed the fatalities, while several other passengers sustained injuries and were rushed to Mtito Andei Sub-County Hospital for treatment.
The bus was reportedly ferrying passengers returning from a burial ceremony when it collided with the lorry travelling in the opposite direction.
The injured were taken to Mtito Andei Sub-County Hospital, where medical teams attended to survivors, while the bodies of those who died were moved to the hospital mortuary.
The circumstances surrounding the crash had not been established by the time of publication.
The latest tragedy comes barely three weeks after another devastating accident along the same highway claimed the lives of 17 people, including 16 pilgrims from St Mathias Mulumba Catholic Church in Mikindani, Mombasa County, and their driver.
The pilgrims were travelling to the Subukia National Marian Shrine in Nakuru County for the National Prayer Day when their journey ended tragically at Mlima Kiu, in the Salama area of Makueni County, on October 3.
The multi-vehicle collision involved a 14-seater matatu carrying the pilgrims, two lorries and several other vehicles. Police said the crash unfolded after a lorry was involved in a series of collisions, culminating in a head-on impact with the matatu.
The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) dispatched a multidisciplinary team to investigate the circumstances of the Salama crash, including vehicle inspection and compliance. The authority also identified the Mlima Kiu–Salama stretch as an accident black spot and urged motorists to avoid dangerous overtaking and observe lane discipline.
The October 3 accident triggered calls for urgent road-safety interventions along the highway, with Mombasa Archbishop Dominic Kimengich urging the national government to upgrade the Nairobi–Mombasa Highway to a dual carriageway to help prevent further loss of lives.
Sunday’s crash at Kanga adds to concerns over the safety of the highway, a vital transport link connecting Nairobi and the Coast and used daily by passenger vehicles, commercial trucks and other motorists.
With the two fatal accidents occurring within weeks of each other in Makueni County, attention is once again turning to the measures needed to protect road users along the route. However, the cause of Sunday’s collision remains unknown, and investigators will need to establish the circumstances that led to the crash.
