Ten-year-old Clare Wairimu Njoroge will leave the hospital without the close embrace of the family that raised her, after the devastating road accident at Karai claimed the lives of her parents and siblings.

Wairimu remains under medical care in a Nairobi private hospital, still recovering from injuries sustained when the Toyota Hiace Nanyuki Cabs shuttle in which her family was travelling collided head-on with a Greenline bus on the Nairobi–Nakuru highway at Karai in Naivasha in the early hours of January 4, in an accident that claimed 10 lives.

Wreckage of the shuttle that were involved in the January 4 night accident killing 10

Photo credit: LELETI JASSOR/MTAA WANGU

The family was returning to Gilgil, Nakuru County from Kirigiti, Kiambu county where they had spent the Christmas holidays, in readiness for the schools’ reopening this week.

Her uncle, Harun Thuku — brother to James Njoroge, a catechist at Ridgeways Catholic Church — confirmed that Njoroge’s wife, Teresa Wanjiru, a teacher at Murindat Primary School, their six-year-old son Michael Kabari, and one-year-old Mark Kabui died in the crash.

The bodies are preserved at the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital mortuary pending burial arrangements. Thuku said the family is in deep mourning.

Wreckage of the nissan and bus that were involved in the January 4 night accident killing 10

Photo credit: LELETI JASSOR/MTAA WANGU

He remembered his brother as the family’s “social butterfly.”

“My brother, who was our firstborn of five, would always light up any room he entered and was very helpful to people he saw who were in need,” he said in a phone interview.

Thuku said his last conversation with his brother was on December 31, when they discussed plans for the new year and unfinished projects back home. He added that he later overheard their father speaking to Njoroge about plans to return the children home to Gilgil for school.

The accident was among several fatal road tragedies to hit the country in the first week of the year. Police said the Greenline bus, which was ferrying passengers from Nairobi, is reported to have swerved off its lane while attempting to avoid an oncoming vehicle and collided with the shuttle, killing at least 10 people and injuring many others.

As of January 7, relatives were meeting to chart the way forward for Wairimu. The family is arranging her transfer to another facility for further treatment, even as the emotional and financial toll continues to grow.

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