It was supposed to be a journey of celebration, family reunion and shared happiness. Instead, a trip to a wedding in Nairobi last Friday ended in tragedy, leaving families mourning loved ones.
Across four villages in Kakamega County, families are struggling to come to terms with the midnight tragedy that claimed eight lives in the Kondoo area near Burnt Forest, on the Eldoret-Nakuru highway. Among the dead were breadwinners, a teaching couple, a mother and daughter and a young enterprising university graduate.
In the affected homes in Lwandeti, Chimoi, Kaburengu and Matete in Lugari sub-county, grief has taken over. The celebratory mood that preceded the tragic trip has given way to sobs and silence.
The tragedy hit the education fraternity in Matete particularly hard, with several people connected to the local teaching community among the deceased.
Inspector, Ngigi Ngugi, Deputy Base Commander Tarakwa Traffic Base in Uasin Gishu County, shows the wreckage of a matatu which was involved in an accident with a lorry on October 31, 2026.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation
The Nation visited the grieving families and found tents already set up, mourners gathered and funeral arrangements underway.
A painful repeat as couple perishes in accident
For the Otimo family in Lunywenywe village, the tragedy has reopened an old wound, bringing back painful memories of another road accident that claimed a family member years earlier.
Eight years after losing his first wife in a road accident, Mr Solomon Otimo, 46, a secondary school teacher, died in the tragic crash alongside his second wife, Ms Christine Mecha, 26.
The pain is particularly difficult to bear for 60-year-old Monicah Otimo, Solomon’s elder sister and principal of Makololo PAG Senior School in Bungoma County. She vividly remembers the last time she saw Christine on Friday evening, as the couple prepared to travel to Nairobi.
Around 9.40pm, she wished them a safe journey, unaware that it would be their last conversation. Hours later, at 3am, while praying, her phone rang. A younger brother-in-law delivered the devastating news that Solomon and Christine had died.
“I told him those were just rumours and that it was misinformation. A moment later, my sister called with the same news, but I still could not believe it,” she recalls.
Desperate to establish the truth, she sent her daughters to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret around 4am. They initially found relatives who had sustained serious injuries and were receiving treatment. Monicah later travelled to the hospital herself, where she confirmed the deaths.
“When I got there, I could not believe my eyes. I cried and cried, asking myself why it had to be my brother and his family,” she says.
Before the family could deal with the loss of Solomon and Christine, another blow followed. Their niece, Ms Harriet Khasoa, who was also travelling with them, later succumbed to her injuries, bringing the family’s death toll to three.
Christine Mecha (centre) and her husband Solomon Otimo and their niece Harriet Khaosa (right). They all died in the Eldoret-Nakuru highway crash.
For Monicah, the loss was unbearable.
“Losing three members of one family at the same time is not easy. This accident has not only taken my relatives, but also my closest friends. My brother had big dreams, and now they have been cut short in a single crash,” she says.
In 2017, Solomon lost his first wife, Silvia Rose, a teacher of Kiswahili and geography, in a road accident at the Kaburengu black spot. She left behind four children. When Solomon later married Christine, she brought warmth and stability back into the family, embracing the children and raising them as her own.
Now, the children have lost both parents.
Solomon was a teacher of physics, mathematics and computer studies at Friends Maturu Senior School. He had recently completed a master's degree in physics at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology and was looking forward to pursuing a PhD.
His daughter, Joyglorios Otimo, 26, struggles to imagine life without the father who held the family together.
“My father was a wise and intelligent man who believed everything was possible. He supported us greatly, especially after we lost our mother in 2017. He always encouraged us and told us that even if things took time, everything would eventually be okay,” she says. “I loved my father so much. I honestly do not know how we are going to survive without our parents.”
NTSA has made a direct appeal to elevate the country's road safety crisis into a formal national disaster declaration.
Photo credit: Pool
Her younger brother, Victor Otimo, a student at Moi University, says: “My parents were my closest friends. My stepmother brought comfort and peace into our home. She was loving, caring and supportive. She treated us well and encouraged us. I will really miss them.”
Two other relatives who were travelling in the same vehicle survived. Ms Fortune Wekesa remains hospitalised with injuries, while Mr Stephen Murabwa sustained a broken arm and has since been discharged.
Young graduate and entrepreneur’s dreams cut short
At just 26, Harriet, the couple’s niece, had already become an economic pillar of her family.
A Moi University graduate with a degree in Education, specialising in English and Literature, she had ventured into poultry and pig farming, horticulture and beekeeping, generating income that helped sustain her parents.
Her entrepreneurial ambitions stretched further. She planned to venture into cattle trading, buying and selling livestock to local butcheries, while also pursuing charitable work through community groups supporting children’s homes and other vulnerable people.
Her father, Mr Dennis Wekesa, says the family had traditionally travelled to Nairobi by plane or executive coach, and had even made arrangements for Harriet to use their preferred mode of transport before the group opted for a shuttle.
He remembers her as a hardworking, driven, generous young woman whose future held so much promise. Now, those dreams have been cut short, leaving a family mourning not only a daughter, but also the hopes she carried for their future.
Scene of the accident at Twin Bridge along the Nakuru–Eldoret Highway, where five passengers aboard an 11-seater Toyota matatu were killed after the vehicle rammed into a stationary truck.
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi| Nation Media Group
Wife and daughter taken in one cruel blow
A few kilometres away, another family is struggling with a loss that has left a father without his wife and youngest daughter.
At the home of 63-year-old Victor Ombacho, relatives and neighbours have gathered to comfort the family following the deaths of his wife, Ms Sarah Lona, 52, and their 15-year-old daughter Camelita Akhasaya.
A retired officer of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Ombacho says he initially dismissed the news when a neighbour informed him that the vehicle carrying his family had been involved in an accident.
Around 7am on Saturday, he had just finished milking his cows and was preparing to deliver milk when the news reached him.
“I went straight to my room, picked up my phone and called my wife several times, but nobody answered. Shortly afterwards, neighbours arrived and we rushed to Eldoret,” he recalls.
At MTRH, he was taken to the mortuary to identify the bodies.
“Seeing my wife lying there lifeless completely shattered my heart,” he says.
Sarah was the head teacher of Lumami Township Comprehensive School and, according to the widower, the family’s main breadwinner.
Camelita, their youngest daughter, had completed her Grade 9 examinations on Friday morning before embarking on the journey to Nairobi that evening.
“She told me to expect good results from the examinations she had just completed. I was very happy and proud of her. She was like a close friend to me, and I will miss her deeply,” he says.
Their eldest daughter, Ms Marryanne Ombacho, 28, is still too overwhelmed by grief.
“I am still emotional. Today I cannot talk much. Maybe you can come back another day when I have the strength to speak,” she says.
For Mr Stanley Njereman, Sarah’s nephew, the loss is equally difficult to comprehend.
“Even now, I cannot believe what has happened. She was a loving and caring person, and I will miss her dearly”, he says.
Geoffrey Andabwa (center), Headteacher of Tande Comprehensive School in Kakamega County, accompanied by his sister Evelyn Nakuku, and a friend Amunga Wasilwa, at Tarakwa Police Station in Burnt Forest, Uasin Gishu County on October 31, 2026, to get details of matatu in which his wife Janet Andabwa, acting Headteacher of Chamabere Comprehensive School, died on October 30, 2026 night.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation
Less than 100 metres away, another household is preparing to bury a woman whose entrepreneurial drive helped build the family’s economic foundation.
At the home of Mr Mayama Musala, 59, relatives and neighbours have gathered as funeral arrangements get under way for his wife, Ms Mary Mayama, 53, popularly known as Mama Memba.
The Assistant Director of Agriculture in Kakamega County recalls that his wife had left for Nairobi on Friday evening after he returned home from work.
Around 9.06pm, she called to inform him that they had reached Chimoi market. It was their last conversation. At midnight, their son, Innocent Mutiso, called to ask whether he had heard from her.
“He told me he had received information that a North Rift shuttle had been involved in an accident and that they needed to confirm whether my wife was among those involved,” Mr Musala recalls.
They repeatedly called her phone until someone eventually answered and informed them that an accident had occurred and that some passengers had died while others had been injured.
The family immediately travelled to Eldoret, where they found Mary dead at MTRH.
For Mr Musala, the loss is not just that of a wife, but also of a partner with whom he had built a home and businesses over 32 years. He describes her as a hardworking entrepreneur who was central to the family’s livelihood.
“She was my bosom friend, my darling, a homemaker and the mother of our five sons. She was also the economic pillar of our family,” he says.
Mary had built an extensive portfolio of businesses, including farming and commercial ventures in Matete. According to her husband, she kept about 40 dairy cows, more than 5,000 poultry birds, reared pigs and practised horticultural farming. She also ran butcheries, PSV matatus and other businesses.
“She was the source of all these economic ventures you see here. She worked very hard to build what we have,” he says.
Their son, Mr Mordecai Mayama, 23, a student at Kenyatta University, struggles to put his grief into words.
“My mother was my adviser, teacher, mentor, friend and everything,” he says.
The accident also claimed the life of Janet Andabwa, the acting headteacher of Chavere Comprehensive School in Matete sub-county, who was travelling with fellow teachers to Nairobi for a colleague’s family wedding.
Her husband, Geoffrey Besele, the headteacher of Tande Comprehensive School, said she had left home around 8pm in high spirits after completing her duties supervising the Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA). He received the devastating news of her death in a phone call around 4am.
Relatives, friends and local leaders have continued to visit the bereaved families as they prepare to lay their loved ones to rest.
The affected families, most of whom are Catholic, have scheduled a joint requiem Mass for November 13 at Matete Sports Ground, ahead of the burials planned for November 14, at the respective family homes.
The driver of the ill-fated vehicle, who was Muslim, has already been buried at his rural home in Bungoma.
Uasin Gishu County Police Commander Wilberforce Sichirani said the 12:30am accident involved a lorry heading towards Eldoret, which veered off the climbing lane and collided head-on with the shuttle before hitting three other vehicles, including a Probox and a public service vehicle.
