Social media posts exaggerate death toll after collision kills scores in Kenya

"Death toll at the Londiani accident rises to 90," reads a tweet published on July 1, 2023, which has since been shared more than 450 times.

Image

Screenshot showing the false tweet, taken on July 4, 2023

It features an image of wreckage (archived here) from the accident scene.

Other posts shared on Facebook and on TikTok claimed upwards of 80 people had died.

Local media citing official sources (archived here) said the incident occurred when the truck veered out of control and hit several other vehicles and pedestrians at a busy junction near the Rift Valley town of Londiani, Kericho county, some 200 kilometres west of the country’s capital Nairobi.

It is one of Kenya's deadliest accidents in recent times.

But posts claiming more than 80 people had died are false.

Deaths exaggerated

Officials said on July 1, 2023, that 52 people (archived here) had died as a result of the accident.

Erick Mutai, governor of Kericho county, gave an update on Twitter, writing: “As of this morning, July 1st 2023, the death toll from the incident had risen to 52, comprising of 31 men, 18 women and two children.”

The Kenya Red Cross told AFP Fact Check on July 3, 2023, that "32 other people were injured in the accident and were taken to various hospitals in the region".

No further deaths have been reported as of July 5, 2023.