Fifty-four people have been killed in Kenya when a bus skidded off a road and plunged into a river. The accident happened in the region of Meru, in the centre of the country. According to official radio, the road conditions had been made treacherous in the area because of heavy rain. The bus was reportedly owned by the local subsidiary of the British company Stagecoach. From Nairobi, our East Africa correspondent, Cathy Jenkins, reports:

The bus was on route from the central town of Meru to Nairobi when it apparently skidded on a steep section of the road and plunged into the river Nithi. Initial reports put the death toll at 30 but this has risen to 54, with many of the victims trapped inside the bus.

Official radio had said that road conditions in the area were treacherous because of recent bad weather. The El Nino effect in Kenya has caused torrential rains to continue well past the wet season.

But road conditions in Kenya are notoriously bad. Years of neglect have left roads in many areas pot-holed and in some places all but washed away.