Train Derailment in Rural Kenya Leaves Four Dead, Twenty-Two Injured as Carriages Topple, Block Main Line

Nairobi, Kenya— A passenger train derailed in rural Kenya Thursday morning, killing four people and injuring 22 others as carriages left the tracks and slammed into an embankment.

The derailment occurred around 7:10 a.m. local time near Voi, in Taita Taveta County, on the Nairobi-Mombasa Standard Gauge Railway, according to Daily Nation and Kenya Railways. The locomotive and three coaches went off the rails on a curved section where recent heavy rains had softened the ballast. Two coaches tipped onto their sides.

Rescue teams and local residents rushed to the wreckage, pulling passengers through broken windows. Four bodies were recovered from the second coach, which took the brunt of the impact. The injured were taken to Moi Referral Hospital in Voi, with six listed in serious condition with fractures and internal injuries. More than 200 other passengers were stranded for hours.

"The train shook, then tilted violently," a survivor told AP. "People fell on each other, luggage everywhere. We crawled out through the window. Some could not move."

The line, built by a Chinese contractor and opened in 2017, has faced criticism for maintenance gaps and drainage failures on sections cutting through black cotton soil that expands when wet. Kenya Railways said it had dispatched a crane and engineering team to rerail the coaches and inspect 500 meters of track. Services were suspended in both directions.

The Kenya Safety Investigation Bureau said it would examine whether speed, track condition, or a mechanical fault caused the derailment. Preliminary reports noted that the train was traveling within the speed limit, but that water had pooled under the track bed. Workers had reported a soft spot two days earlier.

For passengers, the SGR is the main link between the capital and the coast, cheaper and safer than the highway, which has a high crash toll. Thursday's derailment is the deadliest on the line since it opened. Families gathered at both Nairobi and Mombasa termini waiting for names of the injured.

Rail officials said they would provide buses for stranded travelers and accommodation for the night. The transport cabinet secretary ordered an audit of all sections built on expansive soils.

By evening, the overturned coaches remained on their sides, with rescue crews still cutting into one to check for anyone trapped.

The track was still blocked, with no estimate for reopening.