Road accident kills 17 travelling to shrine in Kenya

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

Several other people were injured in the accident, which happened at Salama, on the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, about 90 kilometres (60 miles) southeast of the capital, said Kenya's National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).

The NTSA said it had sent a team to the site to investigate what happened and to check the condition of the vehicles involved.

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

The daily newspaper Nation, citing an anonymous police source, said all 17 people killed had been travelling in a minibus with a seating capacity of only 14 places. It reported the vehicle collided with a lorry.

Several media reports said other vehicles had also been involved.

The NTSA, in its statement, said the stretch where the accident happened was known as a black spot and the agency had already made safety recommendations about it.

Kenya's President William Ruto issued a statement offering his condolences.

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

The poor state of many roads -- and of some vehicles -- and reckless behaviour by both drivers and pedestrians have exacerbated the problem, says the government.

Agence France-Presse