Premium
Double tragedy as church member dies on the way to collect body for burial
Suba Sub-county Hospital in Sindo Town, Homa Bay County on February 26, 2025.
What you need to know:
- Raphael Obondo, 68, was seriously injured during the accident and died while receiving treatment at Suba Sub-county Hospital.
- One survivor said the driver lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a corner, and veered off the road ending up in a ditch.
On Tuesday February 26, 2025 around 10am, 25 members of Malongo Catholic Church in Homa Bay County boarded a pickup vehicle for a bumpy ride to Suba Sub-county Hospital mortuary located in Sindo Town.
Their mission was to collect the body of a church member, Rose Odhiambo, who had passed away a few weeks ago.
They had planned to arrive at the mortuary by early afternoon and proceed with the paperwork hoping to remove the body before dusk.
But as fate would have it, the journey turned tragic after their vehicle was involved in a road crash which claimed the life of one member.
The man identified as Raphael Obondo, 68, was seriously injured during the accident.
He died while he was receiving treatment at Suba Sub-county Hospital in Sindo Town, where was rushed by a Good Samaritan.
One of the survivors said that they had driven for about one kilometre from the point where they had converged when the accident occurred.
Nicholas Ochieng’ said that the driver seemingly lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a corner, and veered off the road ending up in a ditch.
The pickup that was involved in road crash on February 25, 2025 while transporting members of Malongo Catholic Church to Suba Sub-county Hospital.
“Everyone who was at the back was tossed out and sustained injuries,” he said.
According to a police report, at least 16 people were seriously injured while nine others sustained minor injuries.
Mr Ochieng attributed the cause of the accident to overloading.
Malongo Sub- location Assistant chief Bonface Sakwenda said some of the injured people were referred to Homa Bay County Referral Hospital.
While confirming the incident, Suba South Sub-county Police Commander Caxton Ndunda, urged motorists to abide by traffic rules when using the roads in the area.
“If they were to follow the rules to the letter, we wouldn't be losing lives on our roads like this,” Mr Ndunda said.
Mr Odongo's body was later transferred to the same mortuary where only a few hours ago he had set out to visit with the sole aim of collecting the remains of Ms Adhiambo.
Later that afternoon another group of mourners from the village arrived at the mortuary and collected Ms Odhiambo's body as they supervised the admission of Obondo's body to the same morgue.