Post date: Aug 10, 2012 7:11:37 PM
TANGA, TANZANIA (AUGUST10, 2012) (REUTERS) - A rapid sequence of accidents involving two buses carrying Kenyan Christians heading for a religious ceremony in Tanzania left more than a dozen dead and 70 others injured on Friday (August 10).
At least 13 are left dead after buses carrying Kenyan Christians in Tanzania are involved in linked accidents.
The buses were travelling to the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam when one of the buses left the road and landed on its side.
Survivor, Nancy Njoroge, said the passengers in the stricken bus called out for help, which then led to a second accident.
"After the bus crashed, we were unable to come out, so we called the people in the other bus and asked them to turn back -- as they had passed. When they came back they parked on the other side. Some came out and started helping those who had fainted. After that I don't know what happened. Those of us who were outside just saw the bus coming towards us and hitting others," she said.
Another survivor, Waikua Kinyunyu, said the second bus had been hit by a truck coming from northern Tanzania.
"A trailer truck coming from the Arusha direction came and hit the bus that was on the road, and sent it off the road, downhill," he said.
The two buses were carrying 84 people from a church group in Thika, central Kenya.
By nightfall Tanzania police said the figure of the dead had reached 13 while many more were hospitalised.
Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki ordered the military to send in aircraft to evacuate the dead and the injured back to hospitals in Kenya.