Here are three Kenyan athletes who have been killed in ghastly road accidents

david nganga

August 8, 2018 2:06 PM

This follows the death of former 400m hurdles world champion Nicholas Bett

Bett died on the spot after the car he was driving veered off the road and landed in a ditch near Lessos along Eldoret-Kapsabet road on Wednesday morning.

His tragic death was announced by his family and confirmed by county police commander Patrick Wambani.

The 28-year-old's sudden death adds to a list of Kenyan athletes who have lost their lives in fatal road accidents in recent past.

Business Insider SSA takes a look at some of them:

February 2009: Jefferson Siekei

Former athlete Jefferson Siekei was killed in a morning road accident in Nyamira county, western Kenya.

Siekei died after the motorcycle he was riding on, alongside his training partner, collided head-on with a truck.

“Siekei was among our most promising athletes and we had hoped to see him among the contenders for places in the Kenyan team to the IAAF World Cross Country Championships,” former Athletics Kenya secretary general, David Okeyo said.

The 25-year-old won the 2007 Kisii round of the Athletics Kenya Cross Country Series and was 12th at last year’s national cross country championships in Nairobi.

February 2010: David Lelei

Former middle-distance runner David Lelei died on the spot after his vehicle collided with a trailer along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway.

Mr Lelei was travelling to Nakuru with former world 10,000 metres champion Moses Tanui, who survived the crash.

Lelei won a 1,500m silver medal at the 1999 All African Games in Johannesburg, the same year as he finished seventh over the same distance at the world championships in Seville.

He was fourth in the 800m at the 2001 World Indoor Championships in Lisbon.

February 2018: Francis Kiplagat

Long distance athlete Francis Kiplagat died in a car accident in the Kikopey area in Nairobi.

Kiplagat was travelling with 2010 African men's 5,000m silver medallist Vincent Yator before the incident happened on Monday night.

Kiplagat has nine career victories to his name with personal bests of 14:58 in the 5km, 29:45 (10km), 62:49 half marathon and a 2:15:57 marathon.

david nganga