‘It is very painful’: Man mourns wife, daughter and three relatives killed in Kikopey crash

For James Wegesa, the journey home from a family burial ended with a call he never expected.

He lost his wife, his young daughter and three other close relatives when an Easy Coach bus collided head-on with the Toyota IST they were travelling in at Kikopey along the Gilgil-Nakuru highway.

The five had been returning to Nairobi after attending the burial of Wegesa’s mother-in-law in Kisumu.

Wegesa had travelled with them for the burial but left earlier. His wife and the others began their journey back on Sunday evening.

By Monday morning, he was trying to reach them.

Instead, a police officer answered the phone.

He was directed to Gilgil Police Station, where he came face to face with the wreckage of the car.

“The family that has been involved in the accident is mine. It was my wife and child, my brother-in-law with his wife and their daughter,” Wegesa told journalists.

“We are all from the same family. I had my wife and my daughter as my only family. Now I am left alone.”

Five relatives, one journey

The crash happened at about 11pm on Sunday, September 13, in the Kamugunda area of Kikopey.

Police said the Easy Coach bus was travelling from Gilgil towards Nakuru when it collided with the Toyota IST, which was heading towards Nairobi.

Four occupants of the private car — two women and two juveniles — died at the scene.

The car's driver was critically injured and later died in hospital, bringing the number of fatalities to five. Several people on the bus were also injured.

The victims were identified by their family as Wegesa’s wife and daughter, his brother-in-law, his brother-in-law’s wife and their daughter.

The tragedy has left Wegesa mourning almost his entire immediate family at once.

“These are people who were careful with their lives; they wanted to live, but someone who was not careful has done all these. It is painful and sad,” he said.

What happened on the highway?

The circumstances of the collision are still being investigated.

Police have said preliminary inquiries point to the bus failing to keep to its side of the road before the head-on collision.

Gilgil Sub-County Police Commander Winston Mwakio confirmed that investigations had begun. Both vehicles were taken to the police station for inspection.

Wegesa, who has driven for more than three decades, said the stretch is familiar to him and that he understands the risks motorists face there.

He said information given to him by police suggested the private car was travelling uphill when the bus allegedly moved into the lane used by vehicles climbing the road.

“I know they are dangerous, but sometimes I think drivers tend to be negligent or careless with their manoeuvres,” he said.

His account, however, is not a final finding on the cause of the crash. Investigators will have to establish what happened before determining responsibility.

A highway with a painful history

The latest tragedy has again drawn attention to the Kikopey section of the busy Nairobi-Nakuru corridor.

It comes less than a year after a devastating crash near Kariandusi, close to Kikopey, killed 16 people in September 2025 after a matatu collided head-on with a trailer.

In January 2026, another crash near Kikopey involving a truck and matatus killed at least seven people, according to police reports.

The repeated crashes have raised questions about driver behaviour, lane discipline, speeding and safety along one of Kenya’s busiest transport corridors.

The national picture is also worrying.

The National Transport and Safety Authority reported 2,150 road deaths between January and June 2026, an increase of about 11 per cent from the same period the previous year. Pedestrians accounted for about 836 of those deaths, while 188 drivers were killed.

Those figures put the Kikopey tragedy in a much wider context. Behind every statistic are families dealing with sudden loss, hospital bills, funeral arrangements and, in cases such as Wegesa’s, the collapse of an entire household.

‘Now I am left alone’

For Wegesa, the national statistics offer little comfort.

His concern is now personal.

He said his long experience on the road has taught him how quickly a routine journey can turn fatal when drivers make dangerous decisions.

“I have done driving for over 30 years. I am very familiar with this route,” he said.

He questioned why motorists would take risks on a road they know can be unforgiving.

The investigation will determine whether speed, lane use, overtaking, vehicle condition or other factors played a role in the collision.

For the family, however, the outcome is already irreversible.

A trip home after burying one relative has now left them preparing to bury five more.

And Wegesa is facing that grief without the wife and daughter he says were his entire immediate family.

“It is very bad,” he said.

About the Author

Maureen Onyango is a journalist passionate about storytelling, life coaching and spiritual lessons. She studied at the Kenya Institute of Management and enjoys telling stories that inform, inspire and empower communities.