Mbagathi road crash victims (from left): Evans Kyalo Muteti Allan Mwenda and Erick Ochieng.
Last Friday at 5pm, four friends gathered at their favourite restaurant in Nairobi West after answering a message posted earlier that day in their WhatsApp group, "Rich Gang."
Jackson Ingolo, Allan Mwenda, Erick Ochieng and Evans Kyalo were inseparable. Mwenda and Ingolo worked at the National Oil Corporation of Kenya, Kyalo was a realtor, while Ochieng was an experienced pilot.
Mbagathi road crash victims (from left): Evans Kyalo Muteti Allan Mwenda and Erick Ochieng.
They had postponed the meeting several times because of work and other commitments, but this time everyone made it.
For hours, they discussed a business opportunity that had excited them for weeks. Ingolo had recently secured a prospective investor from the United Kingdom interested in Kenya's real estate sector and the four friends were eager to develop a proposal together.
The meeting ended shortly after 1am and they parted ways believing they would meet the following week again to refine their plans.
But before sunrise, only one of them would still be alive.
Within minutes of saying goodbye, the vehicle carrying Mwenda, Ochieng and Kyalo veered off Mbagathi Road, mounted the stairs of a pedestrian footbridge near the Riara University junction and burst into flames in one of Nairobi's most horrific road crashes in recent memory.
The only survivor of the group was Jackson Ingolo, who had decided not to travel with his friends that night.
Police officers supervise the removal of the wreckage of the car involved in the fatal road crash along Mbagathi Way from Nairobi Funeral Home in Nairobi on July 11, 2026. Three occupants were burnt beyond recognition after the vehicle caught fire following the crash.
On the way out of the restaurant, Ingolo handed Mwenda his laptop.
“I told him I would not go with them to Hurlingham because of the logistics since I live in Imara Daima. He told me not to risk carrying my laptop in an Uber and said he would take it in his car and bring it to my office on Monday,” Ingolo told the Daily Nation in an interview.
After leaving his friends, Ingolo said he boarded a taxi home, muted off his phone and went to bed expecting to reunite with them on Monday.
Instead, he woke shortly before 11am on Saturday to dozens of missed calls.
Confused, he turned to social media where photographs of a burning car perched on a pedestrian footbridge along Mbagathi Road had already gone viral.
The wreckage of the car involved in the fatal accident along Mbagathi Way is moved from Nairobi Funeral Home in Nairobi on July 11, 2026.
He recognised the vehicle instantly.
“I could not believe my eyes. I rushed to City Mortuary. It was such a painful death that I cannot even dare talk about it,” he said.
Since then, Ingolo has made repeated trips to Kilimani Police Station and City Mortuary hoping to see his friends one last time.
He has not been able to.
The intensity of the fire left the bodies burned beyond recognition, forcing investigators to rely on DNA analysis to identify the victims.
Ingolo says their Friday gatherings had become a cherished tradition, but the last meeting carried even greater significance because of the investment opportunity they hoped would transform their lives.
They spent hours reviewing ideas, assigning responsibilities and discussing how they would pitch the proposal to the British investor and nothing about the evening suggested it would be their final meeting.
He said they laughed, shared a meal and spoke excitedly about the future, unaware they were spending their last hours together.
Tow truck operators load the wreckage of the car involved in the fatal accident along Mbagathi Way onto a recovery truck outside Nairobi Funeral Home in Nairobi on July 11, 2026.
For Ingolo, the friendship had long evolved into something closer to family.
He and Mwenda worked together at the National Oil Corporation, where colleagues often referred to them as brothers because they were rarely seen apart.
They travelled together, shared lunch almost every day and constantly discussed business opportunities.
Kyalo contributed expertise in real estate, while Ochieng, an accomplished pilot, completed a close-knit team that believed their combined skills would one day build a successful investment company.
Evans Kyalo Muteti, who passed away during a road accident on Mbagathi Road, photo sourced on July 15, 2026.
“This was not the first time we were meeting. We met regularly and we just didn't know it would be our last," Ingolo said in the interview.
Now grief has left him trapped in an endless cycle of unanswered questions of what if he had travelled with them that night? What if they had delayed their journey? What if a single second had unfolded differently?
As Ingolo wrestles with those thoughts, investigators are trying to reconstruct what caused the vehicle to leave the road before climbing onto the pedestrian footbridge.
Families are meanwhile preparing to bury three men whose final hours were spent planning a future they believed was only beginning.
Kilimani OCPD Patricia Yegon told Nation investigators are reconstructing the scene to establish the exact circumstances that led to the crash.
“We know it was an accident and our teams are working diligently to establish exactly what happened that night," she said.
The families are planning a joint memorial service for the three friends on Friday.
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