Survivor’s tale: The final moments before the tragic Mau Narok crash

For Teresia Wanjiru Maina, a mother of three who survived a Tuesday morning crash that claimed 8 lives in Mau Narok, a routine working day turned into a nightmare when she and her workmates were met with the tragedy.

The accident occurred near Enengetia Centre in Mau Narok along the Narok-Nakuru Highway. Police confirmed that four people, including the driver, Mr Joseph Nganga, 32, died at the scene, while two others succumbed to their injuries while receiving treatment in hospital.

Ms Wanjiru, a resident of Mwisho wa Lami, had woken up at 5.30am, prepared breakfast for her children, bid them goodbye and left for work, unaware of what awaited her that morning.

For the past six years she has depended on the casual jobs in the potato farms to support her family after separating from her husband.

Recounting the ordeal at her home, where she is recuperating after being discharged from hospital, Ms Wanjiru said she arrived at their usual meeting point, locally known, as Kambi, where casual labourers gather every morning before being picked by vehicles to the farms.

However, on the said day, she learnt that the vehicle she normally used was ferrying packing workers instead of the harvesters.

She wanted to return home but the driver of the ill-fated lorry requested her to join them

“The driver told me that we were going to harvest 60 bags of potatoes and that the farm was not far. Before we started the journey, I alighted from the lorry more than three times. I do not know why. A friend convinced me to board, saying she had also decided to join because she had seen me there, and we left,” she said.

She said the driver appeared to be speeding before the vehicle lost control. At one point, passengers heard him hooting continuously, but she did not immediately realise they were in danger.

“I did not know that we had been involved in an accident. I thought the vehicle was veering off the road to avoid an oncoming vehicle because the driver had hooted for a long time. The vehicle dragged for a long distance before we were thrown out,” she recalled.

When she regained consciousness, Ms Wanjiru found herself covered in blood, with other people lying on top of her.

She immediately called her brother-in-law, unaware that he had died in the crash.

Good Samaritans rushed to assist the injured and covered the bodies of those who had died.

Together with other survivors, she was taken to Mau Narok Dispensary for first aid. She was later discharged after sustaining soft tissue injuries to her back, shoulders and hands.

According to Ms Wanjiru, four people, including the driver, Mr Joseph Nganga, 32, died at the scene, while two others succumbed to their injuries while receiving treatment in hospital.

She said the driver had for years been ferrying casual labourers and farms

“The woman who came to help me told me the person I was looking for was no more. I was shocked. I insisted that they show me his body, but they refused. He was my brother-in-law. Although his brother and I had separated, he loved me and my children,” she said.

The accident has left Ms Wanjiru not only nursing physical injuries but also facing an uncertain future.

As the breadwinner, she said she would now have to seek alternative employment to provide for her three children after losing the opportunity to continue with her usual casual work.

She said the lorry was carrying at least 21 people, most of them casual labourers travelling to work in potato farms and residents of Mwisho wa Lami.

The survivor said the tragedy had disrupted the lives of families who depended on casual farm work for their daily needs.

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