On Friday, March 14 morning, the nation woke up to sad and horrifying news—the lives of 13 people had been rudely cut short in yet another road accident.

In the 3 am accident that occurred at the infamous Migaa blackspot on the Eldoret-Nakuru Highway, a truck rammed into a 11-seater PSV matatu belonging to Kitale Shuttle.

And as Molo Sub-County Police Commander Timon Odingo recounted to TV47, the scene of accident was terrifying for the human eye.

It all started when the two vehicles back-to-back — the truck of reg. number KDQ676N and a PSV matatu of reg. number KCR631N — were heading towards the Nakuru general direction, from the Eldoret general direction.

Upon reaching the Migaa blackspot, the driver of the matatu slowed down to negotiate through a bump. Unfortunately, the driver of the truck did not…Authorities say that he had lost control upon reaching the bump.

“Within the slope hapo Migaa kuna bump, hii matatu ikajaribu kupunguza mwendo ili ipite kwa bump. Lakini lori ilikuwa inakuja kwa kasi sana ni kama breki zilikuwa zimefeli,” Odingo said.

To avoid ramming directly into the matatu, the driver of the truck tried to hit the concrete barriers, christened the ‘magic wall of China’, erected in the middle of the road to prevent vehicles from crashing into oncoming traffic on either side of the road.

But the speed and force at which the truck — ferrying coffee meant for export from Uganda to Mombasa Port — was coming with meant that it hit into the concrete barriers, dismantled around 20 of them, but still the vehicle had not come to a stop.

“In the course of still negotiating through the stretch, dereval wa lori hilo akarudisha gari kwa barabara, hapo ndipo alipoingia kwenye matatu hiyo,” Odingo said, adding that what followed was terrible.

After ramming into the matatu, the shipping container dislocated from the vehicle and started rolling over. As the container was rolling at a high speed, it smashed into the passenger service vehicle (PSV) and threw it into a ditch by the roadside.

The aftermath? None of the passengers in the PSV matatu nor in the truck itself survived. Eight men, 4 women and a child had lost their lives in the most unimaginable manner.