Six people were killed after a 14-seater matatu burst into flames after colliding head-on with a private at Kwa Majini bridge on the busy Thika - Garissa highway in Machakos county.
The vehicle went up in flames on Friday, July 15, after a gas cylinder it was transporting burst into flames following the high-impact collision.
Eight other people sustained serious injuries and were rushed to nearby health centres for first aid.
By the time of going to press, police had not yet released a statement on the situation of the victims nor on the cause of the accident.
The accident comes a week after 18 other people died after a matatu collided with a truck at Taru along Mombasa -Nairobi highway.
A truck rammed into the matatu heading to Mombasa from Nairobi with the Coast Regional traffic boss, Peter Maina, noting that two passengers were rushed to hospital in critical conditions.
Residents rushed to the scene of accident to help police and emergency service providers retrieve the injured and the dead from the wreckage.
Videos shared on social media showed the driver of the PSV still stuck in the car, with healthcare workers attempting to rescue him from the wreckage.
Motorists were cautioned to be more careful on the roads even as the government rolled out more measures to curb the high accident rates in the country.
The accidents come amid a series of campaigns by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to reduce road carnages.
In June 2022, NTSA set a date for unveiling the Integrated Transport Management System (iTMS) that would be used in minimising accidents across the country.
"At the end of June, we shall roll it out countrywide where police will be equipped with smart applications to help them automatically collect key road data for easy action,” NTSA Director General, George Njau, explained.
Statistics by the agency indicate that 1,912 people have died in road accidents since January 1, 2022, representing a nine per cent increase from last year's 1,754.
