13 November 2009
Nairobi — This was another case of jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.
Scores of passengers dashed for safety from a burning bus they were travelling on only to find themselves in a pool of sulphuric acid.
Three of them are feared to have been blinded by the acid, while more than 20 others are nursing serious burns at the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital in Nakuru Town, where they were taken after the Thursday night accident.
The accident occurred when a trailer loaded with some 500 containers of sulphuric acid rammed the Climax Coaches bus, which was carrying 67 passengers, mostly traders who were headed for Eldoret and Kitale towns.
The vehicles burst into flames minutes later. Fortunately, the passengers had jumped out through the windows and door.
The trailer driver was burnt to death after being trapped in his cabin. His loader, Mr Bernard Makori, 28, was thrown out of the cabin and landed into the stream of acid. He suffered serious burns on the face, arms and legs.
This was the harrowing scene at Sachang'wan in Molo, which is fast becoming synonymous with disaster. In January, an oil tanker fire in the area killed some 130 villagers, now buried in a mass grave.
The Thursday accident occurred on the brow of a hill, just a kilometre from the scene of the tanker fire, now marked by an expansive monument in commemoration of the dead.
The sight of the two burning vehicles locked together as firefighters from Nakuru Municipal Council battled the flames greeted the Nation team that arrived at the scene shortly after 1am.
According to Mr Makori, the trailer suffered break failure and they hurtled downhill before ramming the bus that was going in the opposite direction.
"We were carrying the sulphuric acid to Nairobi and I was seated with the driver in the cabin," said Mr Makori from his hospital bed.
To overtake
The bus driver, Mr Justus Bahati, who was being treated at the same hospital after sustaining limb and head injuries, said the trailer was behind five others on the busy highway travelling towards Nairobi.
It suddenly moved onto his side as if trying to overtake the rest and when he swerved to avoid it, the trailer followed suit and there was a collision.
He struggled to get out from beneath the steering wheel, which had trapped him, and for about five minutes he watched helplessly as the fire that had started in the trailer's engine spread towards the bus.
Mr Bahati said he has driven buses for the last 23 years and this was the first accident he had been involved in.
Although they were able to get out of the bus alive, the passengers sustained injuries, mainly acid burns. Their clothes were left in tatters after coming into contact with the corrosive liquid.
Mr Ndiama Chemum, 46, said the accident occurred some 20 minutes after the bus resumed its journey following a brief stop-over in Nakuru Town.
"I suddenly heard a loud noise as if the bus was braking. The next thing I heard were screams from passengers and a loud crash," she said.
Seconds after the crash, he saw a fire break out on the bus, and he instinctively turned to the window next to him, which he shattered with a kick and jumped out.
But his elation at having escaped the burning bus were cut short by burning pain that shot up his legs. On looking down, he saw himself standing in flowing liquid, which he later learnt was acid.
Bought goods
Mr Simon Mureithi, 32, told the Nation that he had bought assorted goods worth Sh350,000 at Kamukunji in Nairobi. He was hoping to increase the stock at his shop in Matunda. He suffered minor injuries from the acid.
Mr Tyrus Ndongu escaped without injuries after making his way out of the bus through the emergency door at the back but said he lost goods worth Sh67,000.
Ms Immaculate Munee, a mother of two, said she jumped out of the bus through the door and fell to the ground where, her left arm came into contact with the acid. Her hip was also injured.
Molo police boss Litabalia Achesa said the impact of the collision could have ignited the fire.
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