Thirty-three people died on Sunday evening in central Kenya after a passenger coach fell off a bridge, road authorities and a local government source said on Monday evening.
The statement from NTSA, the National Transport and Safety Authority, states that the operations of the bus company, Modern Coast Express Ltd, are suspended.
“A thorough multi-agency investigation into the accident and an assessment of the operator’s operational safety standards (are) underway”, specifies the text published on Twitter.
The bus plunged about forty meters into the Nithi River as it crossed a bridge known to be an accident-prone “black spot”, about fifty kilometers from the town of Meru from where it had left for the port from Mombasa (southeast).
About 20 people died instantly, four died in hospital and six bodies were pulled out of the river on Monday morning, Tharaka Nithi County Warden Norbert Komora had detailed earlier.
“The search is still ongoing and we are trying to recover the wreckage,” he added.
Photos from local media show the carcass of the bus ripped open and seats ejected from the passenger compartment.
Kenya’s road death toll has been on the rise for several years.
Between January and June, 1,912 people were killed, compared to 1,754 over the same period last year (+9%), according to the latest figures from the NTSA.