Officials say at least 48 people have been killed in a road accident in western Kenya

CNN
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At least 48 people were killed in a car accident in Londiani, Western KenyaOn Friday evening, when a truck carrying a shipping container swerved off the road and collided with several cars, police and eyewitnesses said.

Video footage of the aftermath carried by local radio stations showed the twisted wreckage of cars and motorcycles, along with damaged minibuses and trucks.

Provincial police chief Tom O’Dara put the death toll at 48 on Friday evening.

“I saw a trailer coming speeding. I swerved and I escaped hitting him head-on. The person behind me thought I wanted to buy something. He overtook me and that was when he was hit. The trailer ran off the road and hit other vehicles,” Peter Otieno, a driver, said.

I saw about 20 bodies with my own eyes. There were other bodies that were under the car.”

The Kenya Red Cross said the truck plowed into more than six vehicles and run over pedestrians. The Red Cross said more than 20 injured people had been taken to local hospitals.

Kenyan President William Ruto wrote in a tweet: “The country mourns the families who lost their loved ones in a horrific road accident in Lundiani.”

“It is painful that some of the dead are young men with promising futures and businessmen who were going about their daily business.”

The accident is one of the deadliest on Kenya’s roads in recent years. Last year, 34 people were killed in central Kenya when their bus veered off a bridge and plunged into a river valley.