Seventeen people died early Saturday when a multi-vehicle collision involving a private van and a heavy truck struck the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway at Mlima Kiu near Salama, wiping out a group of church pilgrims from Mikindani who were traveling to Subukia for the annual National Prayer Day.
Seventeen people died early Saturday when a multi-vehicle collision involving a private van and a heavy truck struck the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway at Mlima Kiu near Salama, wiping out a group of church pilgrims from Mikindani who were traveling to Subukia for the annual National Prayer Day. The tragedy unfolded shortly after midnight on October 2, 2026, when a lorry traveling toward Mombasa attempted to overtake a line of vehicles and clipped the rear right side of another truck moving in the same direction.
The initial contact sent the first lorry careening out of control, sideswiping two vehicles traveling in the opposite direction toward Nairobi before it veered into the climbing lane. There, it crashed head-on into a Toyota Hiace passenger van carrying parishioners from St. Mathias Mulumba Catholic Church in Mikindani, Mombasa County. Police confirmed that all 17 occupants of the van died at the scene.
Among the dead were the van driver and 12 passengers, alongside the driver and three occupants of the colliding lorry, according to police accounts detailed by security officials. While initial reports suggested the truck driver had also perished, authorities later confirmed he survived with serious injuries and was transferred from Sultan Hamud Hospital to Makueni Level 6 Hospital for specialized treatment.
Mikindani Parish Mourns Seventeen Parishioners
The parish community in Mikindani had flagged off the group with songs, prayers, and handshakes at 2:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon, expecting a joyous journey to the Subukia National Shrine in Nakuru County for the Catholic National Prayer Day. Instead, the parish church hosted a solemn three-hour mass that turned into a heartbreaking farewell as families began receiving the bodies of their loved ones brought back to Mombasa County.
Passenger manifests provided by the parish priest helped authorities formally identify the victims, a roster that included Janet Miito, Florence Atieno, Jane Mwakamba, Josephat Mekonge, Hilka Orina, Linah Akinyi, Veronica Musyimi, Martha Nzyoki, Ann Mwanthi, Sarapia Mwarimbo, Scholastica Ochieng, Catherine Joseph, Beatrice Oluoch, Veronica Ngandi, Regina Mwai, Samuel Muigai, and Samuel Mwanyasi.
Families Prepare For Weddings And Futures
Another parishioner, Veronica Ngandi, was in the midst of preparations for an early-year wedding after her partner Leonea Baraza paid her dowry in August.
Baraza recounted his final phone calls with his fiancée as she traveled past Manyatta around 8 p.m. and later from Mtito Andei. When he tried calling her again at roughly 9 p.m., the phone rang unanswered before going dead entirely prior to the morning’s devastating news.
I called, but she did not pick up. The phone was ringing, but she wasn’t answering. I called a second time. It was still ringing, but she did not answer. I called for a third time, but this time the phone was no longer going through.
Leonea Baraza, Fiancé of victim Veronica Ngandi
Other families faced equally crushing losses. Sara Nashivanda lost her single mother, who had served as her sole guiding pillar, while relatives made the grueling journey to Sultan Hamud mortuary to identify bodies amid regional grief.
President Ruto and Political Leaders Pledge State Support
President William Ruto, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, and political figures including Jubilee Party leader Fred Matiang’i and Jomvu MP Badi Twalib offered condolences to the bereaved families. President Ruto personally contacted local leaders to pledge state support for the affected households, while Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir facilitated travel arrangements for families journeying to Sultan Hamud for postmortem procedures.
Speaking at St. Mathias Mulumba church, Matiang’i pressed political leaders to maintain active involvement beyond immediate burial ceremonies and urged the parish to establish a dedicated register for children left orphaned by the crash to safeguard their education and long-term welfare.
Safety Corridors Face Scrutiny
The catastrophe has reignited intense scrutiny over safety conditions along the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway. The National Transport and Safety Authority dispatched a multi-disciplinary investigation team to inspect vehicle compliance and map out the sequence of the collision, explicitly designating the Mlima Kiu-Salama stretch as a hazardous transit black spot with a history of safety recommendations.
With national road statistics indicating roughly 4,000 fatalities annually—a figure officials note is likely conservative due to systemic underreporting—church leaders and local clergy have intensified demands for permanent structural interventions along major transit corridors to halt relentless highway carnage.