A tragic accident unfolded as a car, carrying four family members including a child, careened into River Nyangores in Bomet County.
The calamity ensued after a lorry rear-ended their vehicle at Tenwek bridge, propelling it into the swollen river’s depths.
The lorry, journeying in the same direction, forcefully nudged the car off the road, sending it hurtling into the river’s turbulent currents. Quick-thinking residents managed to halt the car’s further descent down the river.
Despite valiant efforts to rescue the occupants, the vehicle succumbed to the river’s force, submerging entirely.
Divers from Bomet County Disaster Management Department later retrieved the sunken vehicle, extricating three bodies entangled within the wreckage. However, the child’s body remains elusive, presumed to have been carried downstream by the river’s relentless flow.
Musa Omar Imamai, the Bomet Central Sub-County police commandant, expressed the ongoing search for the missing child. He stated that divers, aided by concerned citizens, persist in scouring the riverbanks in hopes of locating the child’s remains.
Eyewitnesses recounted the lorry driver’s loss of control, attributing the mishap to brake failure as the vehicle approached the bridge. Despite attempts to signal other motorists, the collision was unavoidable, resulting in the tragic plunge.
Several vehicles and motorcyclists narrowly avoided the chaos, with one vehicle teetering dangerously close to the river’s edge but managing to stay upright.
Richard Rotich, an Assistant Chief from Mungango, narrowly dodged the catastrophe, highlighting the lorry’s reckless speed. “I swerved to evade it, nearly meeting the same fate,” he recounted.
