Kenya road crash kills 17 pilgrims travelling to shrine

A road accident involving several vehicles killed 17 pilgrims travelling to a Catholic shrine in Kenya early Saturday, road safety officials said.

Kenya's National Transport and Safety Authority said the crash happened at Salama on the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, about 90 kilometres southeast of Nairobi. Several other people were injured.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa said those killed were pilgrims heading to the National Shrine in Subukia for National Prayer Day.

The transport authority said it sent a team to the scene to investigate what happened and to check the condition of the vehicles involved. It said the stretch where the crash happened was known as a black spot and that it had already made safety recommendations about it.

The daily newspaper Nation, citing an anonymous police source, reported that all 17 people killed had been travelling in a minibus with a seating capacity of 14 and that the vehicle collided with a lorry. Several media reports said other vehicles were also involved.

President William Ruto offered condolences after the crash.

Kenya officially records about 4,000 road deaths each year. The government's latest road safety action plan said the real figure could be as much as three times higher because road deaths are not always reported.