Panic at Dawn: One Dead, Dozens Injured as Passenger Bus Crashes in Bungoma

It began with a screech and ended in screams. A quiet morning along the Webuye–Bungoma Highway turned tragic when a bus carrying over 65 passengers ploughed into three vehicles in a deadly chain collision.

The 4am crash unfolded at Bukembe Market when a saloon car, registration KCD 226D, collided head-on with a bread delivery truck near Roja Village Resort. The impact killed the car’s driver instantly and left a female passenger clinging to life. Moments later, a Greenline bus from Nairobi, reportedly speeding, slammed into the truck, flipped, and rolled across the road.

Witnesses described the crash as chaotic. “We just heard metal crunching and people crying inside the bus,” said one resident who helped pull victims from the wreckage. Videos shared from the scene showed passengers trapped and others leaping through shattered windows as locals tried to free the injured.

Police revealed that a Smirnoff Ice can was recovered from the saloon car, raising questions about whether the deceased driver had been intoxicated. Images from the wreckage showed the car mangled beyond recognition, its interior drenched in blood and broken glass. The bus, now a twisted heap, had torn through the rear of the lorry before overturning.

Emergency services only arrived hours later, with witnesses claiming some victims were rushed to hospital using motorbikes. By 7am, ambulances began ferrying the critically injured to nearby facilities, as police cordoned off the scene.

Authorities say investigations are underway to determine what exactly caused the sequence of collisions. Meanwhile, families of the passengers wait in anxiety, many still unsure whether their loved ones made it out alive.

With early signs pointing to driver negligence and delayed emergency response, unanswered questions continue to cast a long shadow over Sunday morning’s disaster.