Four people were injured in an accident involving an oil tanker that overturned after colliding with a truck at Chania river bridge near the Blue Post hotel in Thika.
The accident caused a crazy traffic snarl up along the Thika-Nyeri highway that lasted for more than 6 hours as police and officials of Thika Water and Sewerage Company (Thiwasco) struggled to prevent an oil spill into the river.
According to eyewitnesses, the oil tanker collided with a canter truck at the bridge making the cabin of the smaller lorry detach and plunge into Chania river while the trailer overturned on the road spilling thousands of liters of oil.
Four people who were on board the two vehicles were rushed to Thika level 5 with minor injuries.
The water company had to close its water intake and dig a holding area for the spilling oil to prevent it going into the river.
Thiwasco boss Moses Kinya asked their customer to use the water sparingly before normal operations resume.
“We are asking our clients to brace for some interruption in water supply but we are working round the clock to contain the situation,” he told journalists.
Traffic was diverted to Thika town to join Nyeri highway through BAT before the trailer was salvaged and part of the road was cleared.
Traffic police and fire fighters from Thika used sand to clean the oil from the road as wreckage of the vehicles was towed from the road.
