Makueni Deputy Governor Lucy Mulili visits Survivor's of the Ngoluni Accident at Makueni Level 5 hospital. Photo by Gvrns Press. 
By Andrew Mbuva and Ryan Mumo
The death toll from the Ngoluni road accident has risen to seven after an eight-year-old boy succumbed to his injuries on Monday morning while receiving treatment at the Makueni County Referral Hospital.
Confirming the latest fatality, Makueni Health Chief Officer Dr. Harvey Mulei said eight other passengers are still undergoing treatment following the tragic collision that occurred on Friday last week along the Itangini–Tawa road.
The accident happened at Ngoluni when a lorry ferrying building blocks collided with a 14-seater matatu that had stopped to pick passengers at a roadside stage. The impact left multiple families distraught and sparked renewed concerns over road safety on the busy route.
As rescue operations progressed and families sought answers, emotional accounts from relatives and survivors painted a grim picture of the aftermath.
Catherine Mwanzia, a relative to some of the victims, described the frantic hours that followed the crash.
“I was called by my brother and told about the accident. He asked me to rush to Wote and check on his son, who had just completed his KCSE exams,” she recounted. “When I arrived around 8pm, I found two boys — the Secondary School student and another one called Dan, who is in Grade One. I am still searching for the other two. I don’t know whether they are alive. My brother was in Mombasa when the accident happened.”
Her account reflects the agony many families are enduring as they navigate hospitals and mortuaries in search of their loved ones.
Jackson Mutiso, who was aboard the lorry at the time of the collision, blamed reckless driving for the tragedy.
“I was in the lorry that hit the matatu. We were ferrying stones to Kyang’ondu, and on our way back we got the accident,” he said. “The driver was driving carelessly. He was speeding too much both on the way to Kyang’ondu and on the way back. That is why he caused the accident. We had already offloaded the stones, so the lorry wasn’t loaded at the time.”
Mutiso added that they were taken to hospital directly from the scene, describing the moment their vehicle slammed into the stationary matatu.
Authorities are expected to issue a comprehensive report on the crash as investigations continue into the cause and whether negligence played a role.
Meanwhile, the community remains in mourning as families brace for more updates from hospitals where survivors continue to fight for their lives.
