The passengers had buried their pastor in western Kenya and were travelling back to Mombasa when their journey ended in disaster. Early on Sunday, around 7:45am local time, their coach and a lorry met head-on at Kanga, close to the town of Mtito Andei, in the county of Makueni,, on the busy highway linking the capital with the coast. Twenty-four people were killed.
Initial reports gave a toll of 22; two more victims died in hospital later in the day. Upwards of 20 survivors were treated, with several transferred to hospitals in Makindu and Mombasa. One woman told reporters she had no idea what had become of her two children, who were also on board.
Its owner was a church on the coast, Power of the Word Church International, whose members filled most of the seats. According to Abdullahi Khalif, the senior government official in the county, the driver lost control while trying to pass a line of vehicles and ran into an oncoming truck, tearing away about half the roof. At least one passenger remembered it differently, insisting the lorry struck them from the rear, and investigators have yet to settle the sequence.
It is the second deadly pile-up on the same corridor this month. Near Salama on 3 October, a multi-vehicle smash claimed 17 lives, many of them pilgrims on their way to pray. President William Ruto has ordered inspections of public transport vehicles, and transport minister Davis Chirchir promised a crackdown on speeding and reckless overtaking, saying road safety can no longer be treated “as business as usual.”
The broader numbers are stark. Kenya’s transport safety authority recorded 5,009 road deaths in 2025 and counts roughly 20,000 crashes a year. Its officials are pushing for the government to treat the toll as a national disaster in law.
