At least 33 people were reported dead after a Mombasa-bound bus they were traveling in plunged into River Nithi along the Meru-Nairobi highway on Sunday evening.
In a Monday morning update, Tharaka Nithi County Commissioner Nobert Komora also confirmed that 10 people had survived the grisly crash, but cautioned that the number of fatalities could rise since they were seriously injured.
The ill-fated bus driver's wife has opened up about how he often complained about the condition of the vehicle but his employer ignored it.
"I was in a school meeting and he spoke to pour child promising to send money on Mpesa. That was the last time we spoke until now. When I tried calling his phone he was mteja."
The wife says her late husband's complaints fell on deaf ears
"So at night I got a phone call by some people who informed me there has been an accident near Meru and it is said there was a man. I told them I don't know because I have not heard anything. So on the 9 pm news that was when I saw the news then I identified the car. I made the decision to go to the scene and identify my husband when I got to the gate they confirmed he was driving the bus and died."
The mother of two also alleged the bus company hadn't paid his salary for some time alleging that the bus driver had never been paid a salary for a long time.
"When they were returned back to work they have not been paid their salary from February till now he has never been paid a salary. He comes home broke, he doesn't even have a hundred bob. Mtu amelala kazi ameshinda kazi and he comes home emptyhanded. Sasa amekufa hivyo hana pesa and he has left me with children. What will I feed them?"
She also said that her husband used to talk a lot about the condition of that vehicle he was driving
"Aki fika tuu ananiambia, 'Mama Mercy hii kitu ni mbofu gari ni mbofu.' He gets home and can't sleep he immediately leaves and goes to the garage he used to say the brakes are failing, brake inafail, until his death now."
A family friend collaborated her information about the terrible condition of the bus
"He used to tell me that his employer would give him a better vehicle, but this did not happen That vehicle went to the garage and he drove it to Nairobi."
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