Five people perished in Kitui County after an overloaded truck overturned en route to Nzambani area in the county along the Kitui-Mutomo Highway.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, a police officer at the scene of the accident disclosed that the truck was heavily loaded and the accident occurred as the driver attempted to evade another road user.
The officer also noted that all the deceased were seated at the back of the truck and were supposed to offload the rocks at a destination in Nzambani. The accident took Kitui-Mutomo Highway.
"The truck was loaded with rocks and I am not sure whether it was a cow or a motorcycle that he was trying to avoid. So this guy tried applying emergency breaks and because it was heavily loaded and it was in a bend, it toppled.
"The victims were loaders who were meant to offload the rocks from the lorry. They were seated at the back of the lorry. The accident happened at around 3 p.m.," stated the officer.
The bodies of the diseased were taken to Kitui County Referral Hospital.
The last few days have marked a sharp increase in the number of accidents in Kenyan roads with the most notable being along Ngong Road in Nairobi where nine vehicles were involved in accidents within 24 hours.
Motorists along Ngong-Kiserian Road blamed the accidents on loose chippings on the road.
The chippings cause the vehicles to skid off the road and into nearby ditches.
