At least nine people were killed and 27 others injured in a grisly road accident involving a bus and a trailer in Nairobi-Mombasa highway on Thursday night.

Deputy Traffic Police Commandant Samuel Kimaru said on Friday the accident which occurred at Manyani area happened when the Nairobi bound passenger bus tried to overtake a speeding vehicle which was headed to Mombasa.

"The bus driver was overtaking careless and the trailer seemed to be on high speed, forcing it to collide with the oncoming trailer at Manyani area at about 8:45 p.m. (local time)," Kimaru told Xinhua by telephone on Friday.

"Both drivers and six passengers died on the spot. One passenger later died while undergoing treatment at the hospital brings the number of people who died from the accident to nine," Kimaru said.

He said the deceased are eight men and a 14-year-old girl. He said some of the injured are critical situation at the hospital.

The latest incident comes as the traffic police have launched a major crackdown on defective vehicles across the East African nation.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) David Kimaiyo early this month called on traffic police and all base commanders to pay special attention to the enforcement of the traffic act including the amendments passed in the traffic amendment act no. 2 of 2012.

Kimaiyo said his attention has been to the shocking increase of fatal road accidents in recent days, adding that these incidences have led to the death of 63 people by Thursday including women and children since the beginning of the New Year.

According to police statistics, over 2,600 people died while thousands others have been injured in road accidents across the country since the start of 2012.

The accidents are mostly caused by both public and private vehicles, motorcycles, motorbikes and pedestrians.

Half of the 2,525 people killed in road accidents in 2012 were pedestrians followed by passengers, motorcyclists, drivers, cyclists and their passengers.

The statistics revealed that more than three quarters of those killed through road accidents are males and about half are children. Endi

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