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Police: Death toll from Kenya bus crash rises to 3O

Associated PressJuly 25, 2022 GMT

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A view of the wreckage of a bus that plunged into Nithi bridge on Sunday, in Tharaka Nithi county Meru, Kenya, Monday, July 25, 2022. 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 town of Meru. One senior policeman said the bus, traveling from Meru, “must have developed brake failure because it was at a very high speed" when the crash occurred. (AP Photo/Dennis Dibondo)

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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The death toll from a bus accident in central Kenya has risen to 30, police said Monday.

The passenger bus carrying an unknown number of people on Sunday evening fell off a bridge and plunged into a river along a highway from Meru to the capital, Nairobi.

The bus “must have developed brake failure, because it was at a very high speed when the accident happened,” said senior police official Rono Bunei.

Bunei said early Monday that the death toll grew to 30 from 24 overnight, with others hospitalized with injuries.

The accident 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 a crash along the highway from Nairobi to the coastal city of Mombasa.