Comic Dies Instantly When Motorcycle Crashes Into Bus: Details of Fred Omondi’s Death

Update, June 23, 12:25 p.m. ET: Upsetting new details on the crash that killed comedian Fred Omondi have surfaced. TUKO shared a quote from Ken Waudo, described as a board member of the entertainment company Laugh Industry and a director of the Churchill Show, on which Omondi regularly performed. He details how Omondi was instantly killed when the motorcycle taxi he was riding on collided with a mini-bus.

“His head hit the bumper of the matatu,” Waudo said. “Actually, when you see it, the metal of the matatu is curved. And I think that impact was very strong. He had a cracked skull and the matatu had also pulled him, so he had a lot of fractures on the right side of his body, the legs and the hands and so many ribs were completely broken.”

He also added, “If he survived, he would have been a vegetable. His spine had also cracked.”

Original Story, June 16, 3:53 p.m. ET: Comedian and musician Fred Omondi has died in Kenya, according to multiple media reports from African media outlets. Omondi died in a motorcycle crash on Saturday, per Nation and The Star. Fred Omondi is the brother of another notable comedian, Eric Omondi.

According to a local police statement, Fred Omondi was a passenger on a boda boda (a motorcycle taxi) in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday morning around 6 a.m. The boda boda’s driver was allegedly driving on the wrong side of the road and collided head-on with a bus. The comedian died at the scene, while the driver was hospitalized with broken hands and unspecified leg injuries.

The police statement, as published in Nation, reads: “The accident involved a Mitsubishi bus (registration number KCC 126A) operated by Forward Sacco and driven by Stephen Maina of Kayole, who was heading towards the [central business district]. A motorcycle coming from the opposite side of the road (near Consolidated Bank) collided head-on with the bus. As a result, the pillion passenger, Fredrick Odhiambo Omondi, died on the spot.”

Eric Omondi confirmed the news of his brother’s passing with tributes posted on X. 

“My brother,” Eric Omondi wrote alongside a heartbreak emoji. “It is not well. God receive you, till next time.”

It is unclear if any criminal charges will be brought in the wake of Fred Omondi’s passing.