Parents of 4 St Aggrey Students Who Died in Crash Expose School’s Blunder

A heartbreaking scene broke out outside the Moi County Referral Hospital in Voi on Sunday when parents of the deceased Dr. Aggrey Secondary School students broke into wails as they went to identify their children’s bodies.

Speaking to the media outside the hospital, the aggrieved parents blamed poor communication by the school and rash decision-making as the reasons why their children met their tragic end.

According to them, questions abound about the school’s decision to send the students home late in the evening without considering the ones who had to travel long distances to get home.

“It’s a day that has broken our hearts so much. Speaking on behalf of parents, I would like to say that our hearts are heavy for this tragedy that has befallen our family. May God grant all of us the strength to handle this,” Teddy Malabo, the Patent’s Association Chair at the school stated.

As their voice cracked, the parents relayed how the school administration did not sufficiently inform them of a series of school fires that had led to the abrupt closure of the school on Friday evening.

Most of the parents now claim they heard about the decision when their children called requesting for fare back home on Friday evening.

The parents are now blaming the school for not giving them sufficient time to plan for safe travel for their sons.

“We should have been informed earlier that the children were coming home so that we would know the nature of their travel plans,” one of the parents said.

“This one was so surprising as it was sudden. They did not consider that some were travelling long distances or that they would arrive late at night.”

The school bus was ferrying a section of the students home on Friday night when it got involved in a tragic accident at the Josa blackspot along the Wundanyi-Mwatate road in Taita Taveta County.

Reportedly, the bus experienced brake failure and lost control before overturning along the busy highway.

Three students died at the scene but the death toll has since risen to seven. The bus driver and a parent who had gone to pick up their son also succumbed.