A Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) employee was killed in a grisly road accident on Sunday evening, February 28, along Bypass road, a few meters from Nyahururu town.
The media house announced the passing on of Simon Karutha, who worked at the station as a sign language interpreter. According to KBC, Karutha died on the spot having sustained multiple injuries.
Eyewitnesses at the scene narrated the incident stating that the driver of the bus lost control which caused the vehicle to veer off the road and roll several times.
Reports indicate that 28 other passengers sustained severe injuries and were rushed to the Nyahururu County Referral hospital for treatment.
The driver of the bus is said to have fled the scene after the incident. The bus was towed to Nyahururu police station as police officers launched investigations.
Karutha's colleagues mourned the loss of the 24-year-old as a young man full of promise.
“It is unfortunate that we have lost a devoted young man whose star had just started shining,” said Susan Thuku who also works as a sign language interpreter at the same station.
A worrying trend of journalists getting involved in road accidents has been witnessed in the past two years.
This has seen famed media houses lose talented journalists, such as celebrated former NTV Anchor and author Ken Walibora, who died in 2020 after being run over along Nairobi's Landhies road.
At least four journalists from Nation Media Group (NMG) have lost their lives on the road. News editor Anthony Kariuki in September 2019 died along Outer Ring road after he was hit by a car as he was crossing the road.
In March 2020, NTV Video Editor Raphael Nzioki died in a hit-and-run accident at the junction between Kenyatta Avenue and Kimathi Street in Nairobi.
Later that same month, a sub-editor affiliated with The East African, Christine Omulando died in an accident at the Khoja Mosque Roundabout.
Standard Group PLC lost at least two journalists in 2020. Richard Were, KTN News graphics designer, died while on his way to the head office located along Mombasa road.
His counterpart Edwin Audi, KTN News Director, lost his life along Kajiado-Namanga road after their vehicle rammed a trailer in September 2020.
The deaths come at a time when the government is making every effort to reduce road carnage, with the country, according to the National Transport and Safety Authority Act (NTSA), losing over 3,000 lives yearly on the roads.
