Kenya bus crash kills at least 24 as government vows road safety crackdown

Church mourners die on Kenya’s Nairobi-Mombasa Highway weeks after another crash killed 17 people.

Kenyan police officers look on as a bus involved in a deadly collision with a truck on the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway sits at a police station in Makueni County, Kenya, on October 25, 2026 [AP Photo]

A bus carrying mourners has collided with a truck on a major highway in southeastern Kenya , killing at least 24 people, police say.

The crash happened in the Kanga area near Mtito Andei, on the road linking the capital, Nairobi, to the coastal city of Mombasa, at about 7:45am (04:45 GMT) on Sunday, October 25.

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Another 24 people were injured, hospital officials said.

The deaths came just over three weeks after another crash on the highway killed 17 people, prompting fresh government promises to improve road safety.

The bus belonged to Power of the Word Church International in Mombasa and was taking passengers home from their pastor’s funeral in western Kenya.

They had stopped for breakfast shortly before the collision, according to one survivor.

The other vehicle was a truck transporting cement.

Violet Mwandonyi, who survived the crash, told the Associated Press on Sunday that she remembered passengers crying out for passing motorists to help.

She said she did not know what had happened to her two children, who had been travelling on the bus.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Makueni County Commissioner Abdullahi Khalif, the government’s senior administrator in the area, told Kenyan newspaper The Standard that the bus driver had tried to overtake several vehicles before colliding with an oncoming truck.

Kenya’s National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) also identified dangerous overtaking as a possible cause. Another survivor said the truck struck the bus from behind.

On October 3, a crash involving several vehicles killed 17 people , most of them Catholic pilgrims travelling to a prayer site, near Salama on the same highway.

Police said a truck driver had tried to overtake another truck before the collision.

The NTSA had identified that stretch of road as an area with a history of crashes.

President William Ruto offered condolences on Sunday and ordered inspections of vehicles used for public transport.

Transport Minister Davis Chirchir said the government would step up enforcement against speeding and unsafe overtaking, improve dangerous sections of road and strengthen training and checks for commercial drivers.

In a statement on Sunday, Chirchir said the government would work with police, local authorities and lawmakers on the measures, including closer oversight of buses and heavy goods vehicles.

“We cannot continue treating road safety as business as usual,” he said, calling for stronger action to reduce deaths.

Figures from the NTSA, reported by Kenyan media, show that 5,009 people died in road crashes in 2025, with 2,150 deaths recorded in the first half of 2026.

The authority estimates that about 20,000 crashes occur across Kenya each year.

Following Sunday’s collision, it called for road crashes to be declared a national disaster.

几周前，肯尼亚内罗毕-蒙巴萨高速公路发生一起车祸，造成 17 人死亡，随后又有教堂哀悼者在车祸中丧生。

2026年10月25日，在肯尼亚马库埃尼县，肯尼亚警察在内罗毕-蒙巴萨高速公路上一辆与卡车发生致命碰撞的巴士停放在警察局内。[美联社照片]

警方称，一辆载有哀悼者的巴士在肯尼亚东南部一条主要公路上与一辆卡车相撞，造成至少 24 人死亡。

事故发生在 10 月 25 日星期日早上 7 点 45 分（格林尼治标准时间 04:45），地点位于连接首都内罗毕和沿海城市蒙巴萨的坎加地区姆蒂托安代附近。

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肯尼亚宣布第二例埃博拉死亡病例，称“没有证据”表明存在社区传播（列表2/2）。

医院官员称，另有24人受伤。

就在三周多前，高速公路上发生另一起车祸，造成 17 人死亡，促使政府再次承诺改善道路安全。

这辆巴士属于蒙巴萨的“道的力量国际教会”，当时正载着乘客从肯尼亚西部参加完牧师的葬礼回家。

据一位幸存者称，他们在碰撞发生前不久停下来吃早餐。

另一辆车是一辆运送水泥的卡车。

车祸幸存者维奥莱特·姆万多尼周日告诉美联社，她记得乘客们大声呼救，请求过往司机伸出援手。

她说她不知道她的两个孩子发生了什么事，他们当时正在乘坐公共汽车。

事故原因仍在调查中。

马库埃尼县专员阿卜杜拉希·哈利夫是该地区政府的高级行政官员，他告诉肯尼亚报纸《标准报》，这名公交车司机在与迎面驶来的卡车相撞之前，曾试图超车数辆汽车。

肯尼亚国家交通安全管理局（NTSA）也认为危险超车是事故原因之一。另一名幸存者称，卡车是从后方撞上巴士的。

10 月 3 日，同一条高速公路上的萨拉马附近发生多车相撞事故，造成 17 人死亡，其中大部分是前往祈祷地点的天主教朝圣者。

警方称，碰撞发生前，一名卡车司机曾试图超车。

美国国家运输安全管理局 (NTSA) 已将该路段列为事故多发路段。

威廉·鲁托总统周日表示慰问，并下令检查用于公共交通的车辆。

交通部长戴维斯·奇尔奇尔表示，政府将加大力度打击超速和不安全超车行为，改善危险路段，并加强对商业驾驶员的培训和检查。

奇尔奇尔周日发表声明称，政府将与警方、地方当局和立法者合作，采取相关措施，包括加强对公共汽车和重型货车的监管。

“我们不能再把道路安全问题视而不见了，”他说道，并呼吁采取更有力的措施来减少死亡人数。

肯尼亚媒体报道，国家交通安全管理局 (NTSA) 的数据显示，2025 年道路交通事故死亡人数为 5009 人，2026 年上半年记录的死亡人数为 2150 人。

据官方估计，肯尼亚每年约发生2万起交通事故。

周日的碰撞事故发生后，该组织呼吁将道路交通事故宣布为国家灾难。