NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 1 – Nine people were killed in two separate road accidents that occurred in Nairobi as Kenyans celebrated New Year festivities.
Seven of them died in a grisly accident that occurred on Waiyaki Way when a bus they were travelling in from Western Province lost control and landed in a ditch. Five died on the spot while two died while undergoing treatment at the Kenyatta National Hospital.
“It was a very bad accident. Many more were injured,” a police officer who attended to those at the accident scene said.
Two others died shortly before midnight when a truck ferrying milk landed in a ditch on Mbagathi Way. Police said those killed were the driver and his conductor.
According to police, the accident occurred when the truck lost control and hit a saloon car before. It was then that it spun out of control.
In more New Year’s fatalities, three suspected gangsters were shot dead in separate robbery incidents in Nairobi and Central Province.
Two of them were killed by police in Nairobi’s Majengo slum and Eastleigh estate.
In Eastleigh, the slain suspect was shot when he reportedly defied orders to stop after allegedly being caught red handed robbing people in the company of four others who fled.
Kasarani Divisional Police Chief Jasper Ombati told Capital News the suspects were armed with a toy pistol which they used to scare people on the 6th Street which is notorious for muggers.
“These robbers are notorious, they are even known by residents,” he said.
The other suspected robber was shot dead in Nairobi’s Majengo slum on Wednesday night and a pistol recovered.
Police said they had linked him to an incident in which a freelance journalist was shot in Makongeni last September.
The third shooting was reported in Kirinyaga district where a suspected robber was killed by the police on Wednesday night.
Police alleged the slain robber had attacked a local businessman and was shot while taking flight.
