15 parishioners killed in road accident on way to Kenya shrine for National Prayer Day

NAIROBI, Kenya — Fifteen pilgrims from Kenya’s Archdiocese of Mombasa who were heading to Subukia National Marian Shrine in the Diocese of Nakuru died on Saturday in a road accident.

The Mombasa Archdiocese announced the news on Saturday, Oct. 3, that pilgrims from St. Mathias Mulumba Mikindani Parish had died in a car crash in the small town of Salama, about a six-hour drive from the shrine.

The message from the office of the archbishop read: “We are saddened with lots of grief to announce the untimely passing on of [15] pilgrims from St. Mathias Mulumba, Mikindani, in an accident that occurred at Salama. The pilgrims were on their way to the National Shrine, Subukia, for the National Prayer Day.”

The statement from the office of Archbishop Martin Kivuva Musonde continued: “Let us pray for the repose of their souls as we pray for their families, St. Mathias Mulumba Parish and the Archdiocese as a whole, so that we may find solace and consolation in the Lord.”

In his opening address at the prayer event, the chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), Archbishop Maurice Muhatia Makumba , expressed the closeness of KCCB members with the Mombasa Archdiocese…