At least 17 people, most of them Catholic pilgrims, have died in a multi-vehicle Kenya road crash on the highway to Mombasa.
The collision happened shortly after midnight in the Salama area, about 90 kilometres south-east of Nairobi, police said. The pilgrims were travelling to a prayer site in Nakuru County, west of the capital.
Police said the crash began when the driver of a lorry attempted to overtake another lorry but failed. The manoeuvre led to a collision involving several vehicles, including a van carrying the pilgrims.
The van driver and all 16 passengers died at the scene. Most of those travelling in the vehicle were women, while Kenyan media reported that it was a 14-seater minibus.
Martin Kivuva, archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa, said the pilgrims had been heading to the prayer site. In a statement, he said he and others were “saddened with lots of grief” by the deaths.
President William Ruto offered his condolences to the victims’ families, friends, parishioners and the wider Catholic community, describing the incident as “this painful loss”.
Kenya’s National Transport and Safety Authority has opened an investigation into the collision. The authority said it had sent investigators to establish the circumstances that led to the crash.
It also described the section of road as a known “black spot”, adding that recommendations had already been made to address safety concerns along the route.
Road deaths are a persistent problem in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa, with poorly maintained vehicles, excessive speed and poor road conditions often blamed for collisions.
Kenya recorded 5,009 road traffic deaths last year, while 2,150 deaths were reported in the first six months of 2026, according to figures from the transport authority cited by local media.
