NAIROBI: Thirty-six people were killed and 11 injured early Sunday morning in a head-on collision between a bus and a lorry on a road in central Kenya, police said.
“The death toll is now 36,” said Rift Valley traffic police chief Zero Arome, explaining the initial toll of 30 had risen, “after six passengers succumbed to injuries in hospital.”
The accident occurred at 3:00 am (0000 GMT)close to a notorious stretch on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway.
A bus traveling from Busia, in western Kenya, collided with a truck coming from Nakuru town.
Police said the death toll for that stretch of road has now topped 100 this month alone.
Arome said the drivers of both vehicles were among the dead, as well as a three-year-old child, while the injured had been taken to a Nakuru hospital.
One survivor, speaking from his hospital bed, said he had been asleep at the back of the bus when the collision happened.
“All I heard was a loud bang and screams from all over,” he said. “I was seated at the back and was helped out after some time because my legs were stuck. It is by the grace of God that I am alive. I saw many people dead and their bodies mutilated.”
Official statistics show that around 3,000 people die annually in road accidents in Kenya, but the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the figure could be as high as 12,000.
In December last year more than 40 people died when an out of control fuel tanker plowed into vehicles and then exploded on another busy stretch of highway. Deaths from road accidents commonly spike during the holiday period when people criss-cross the country visiting relatives.
In recent weeks road accidents have claimed the lives of hundreds of people, among them three Pentecostal bishops and a newly elected governor.
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36 dead in central Kenya bus crash
36 dead in central Kenya bus crash
Global AI summit in India still without final statement
NEW DELHI: A summit statement on how the world should approach the promises and pitfalls of artificial intelligence was still not published Saturday afternoon, a day after it had been expected at global talks in New Delhi.
Dozens of national delegations, including leaders from France, Brazil and other countries, had gathered in the Indian capital this week to discuss the fast-developing technology.
On Friday, India’s IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said there was “huge consensus on the declaration,” the details of which he declined to provide.
He said the statement already had more than 70 signatories, but he hoped it would pass 80.
“We are just trying to maximize the number,” the minister said as the five-day AI Impact Summit drew to a close.
AFP contacted summit organizers and the IT ministry for comment on Saturday.
The summit, attended by tens of thousands of people including top tech CEOs, was the fourth annual international meeting to discuss the implications of generative AI, and the first hosted by a developing country.
Some visitors had complained of poor organization, including chaotic entry and exit points, at the vast summit and expo site.
Hot topics included the societal benefits of multilingual AI translation, the threat of job disruption and the heavy electricity consumption of data centers.
But analysts said that the summit’s broad focus, and vague promises made at its previous editions in France, South Korea and Britain, would make concrete commitments unlikely.
The United States, which did not sign last year’s AI summit statement, released its own bilateral declaration with India on Friday.
The two countries agreed to “pursue a global approach to AI that is unapologetically friendly to entrepreneurship and innovation.”
Also on Friday, White House technology adviser Michael Kratsios, head of the US delegation, warned against centralized control of generative AI.
“As the Trump Administration has now said many times: We totally reject global governance of AI,” he said.
Dozens of national delegations, including leaders from France, Brazil and other countries, had gathered in the Indian capital this week to discuss the fast-developing technology.
On Friday, India’s IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said there was “huge consensus on the declaration,” the details of which he declined to provide.
He said the statement already had more than 70 signatories, but he hoped it would pass 80.
“We are just trying to maximize the number,” the minister said as the five-day AI Impact Summit drew to a close.
AFP contacted summit organizers and the IT ministry for comment on Saturday.
The summit, attended by tens of thousands of people including top tech CEOs, was the fourth annual international meeting to discuss the implications of generative AI, and the first hosted by a developing country.
Some visitors had complained of poor organization, including chaotic entry and exit points, at the vast summit and expo site.
Hot topics included the societal benefits of multilingual AI translation, the threat of job disruption and the heavy electricity consumption of data centers.
But analysts said that the summit’s broad focus, and vague promises made at its previous editions in France, South Korea and Britain, would make concrete commitments unlikely.
The United States, which did not sign last year’s AI summit statement, released its own bilateral declaration with India on Friday.
The two countries agreed to “pursue a global approach to AI that is unapologetically friendly to entrepreneurship and innovation.”
Also on Friday, White House technology adviser Michael Kratsios, head of the US delegation, warned against centralized control of generative AI.
“As the Trump Administration has now said many times: We totally reject global governance of AI,” he said.
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