Police in Kenya say at least 21 people have died after a bus fell off a bridge and plunged into a river along the highway from the capital, Nairobi, to the central city of Meru.
NAIROBI, Kenya — A bus fell off a bridge in Kenya and plunged into a river along the highway on Sunday, killing at least 21 people, police said.
The bus, which was traveling from the central city of Meru along the highway to Nairobi, the capital, “must have suffered a brake failure because it was going at a very high speed when the accident happened,” he said the senior police officer Rono Bunei.
The accident happened around 6:30 p.m., and Red Cross officials said the rescue operation was called off after nightfall.
Alex Mugambi, manager of a community rescue team, said he believed the death toll was likely to rise.
The crash is the latest in a series of deadly crashes in Kenya and across the wider East African region, where roads are often narrow and police blame speeding drivers for crashes.
At least 20 passengers were killed on July 8 in an accident on the Nairobi Expressway in the coastal city of Mombasa.