Tragedies that claimed Kenyan lives in 2021

The New Year is knocking and it’s only a matter of hours before we usher in 2022 with the usual exuberance, pomp and colour.

However, the mood is different for thousands reeling from the traumatic loss of their loved ones to tragedies and calamities that rocked the year.

The number of accidents took an upward trajectory in 2021 as Kenya recorded over 4000 deaths lost through accidents alone compared to slightly over 3000 deaths recorded in 2020.

The building sector and gold mines have also claimed a fair share of calamities in the year under review.

According to data released by the Government, of the total number of deaths recorded this year, motorcyclists accounted for the most, with over 1,500 of them succumbing to injuries sustained from road accidents.

Pedestrians recorded 1372 deaths, passengers with 664 while drivers accounted for 403.

The number of fatalities according to the government was higher compared to last year’s figure that stood at 1,324 motorists, 1186 pedestrians, 463 passengers and 289 drivers.

On Christmas day, a family was wiped out in a grisly road accident along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway at Mackinnon after a BMW they were travelling in collided with a Subaru, before bursting into flames.

The man identified as Ronald Bundi, his wife and two daughters died on the spot. He was travelling to Kisii for Christmas with his family. Three other passengers also lost their lives.

The worst accident was in Mwingi, early this month when over 30 people died while 12 others were injured after the bus that was ferrying them to a wedding plunged into flooded river Enziu.

The driver of the bus attempted to cross a flooded section of the Nguni-nuu road in Mwingi Kitui county.

The horrendous Mwingi tragedy almost swept away the entire family of the elderly couple that was renewing their wedding vows on the fateful day.

David Mutua and his wife Veronica Syombua lost 10 family members.

Elsewhere, three Chogoria Girls’ High School students heading home for the Christmas holiday and a driver died after the vehicle they were travelling in collided head-on with a lorry at Kambiti area along the Nyeri-Nairobi highway.

Building sector

In the gold mines accidents, Siaya region topped the list this year with two people killed in two separate tragedies.

In the Abimbo Goldmine tragedy, one miner died with more than 10 others rescued after the mine located in Bondo collapsed. The search for one miner who is trapped is ongoing.

A week later another miner died in a different mine in Saiya after a rock hit him on the head.

In September 2021, 10 people lost their lives in a boat accident in Lake Victoria, Homabay county.

Statistics from the maritime authority indicate that at least 5000 people die in the lake each year.

While many factors would be at play, maritime officials concluded lake users rarely put on life jackets which are a mandatory requirement before venturing into the lake. Tragedies involving collapsed buildings also swelled up the 2021 Lethality statistics.

On August 2021, nine people were killed and scores seriously injured after a crane collapsed at a high-rise building under construction in Nairobi’s Hurlingham area.  Workers had begun dismantling the crane when it collapsed.

The same month saw another building collapse in Gachie Kiambu county. The ill-fated five-storey building left five people dead.

In less than two months, another building went down in Ruiru Kiambu County. No one was injured in the nine-storey building collapse incident.

And in Murangá county six people perished after a four-storey building under construction caved in.