About 30 members of the Adden Palace Hotel’s jogging club were out for a group run a little after 6 a.m. on Saturday morning when a loud bang sounded behind them. A speeding vehicle tore through the group, killing six runners and seriously injuring 16 others. Many were left on the roadside, heavily bleeding.
Peter Henry, the Adden Palace Hotel manager, was running at the front of the pack when the incident occurred, and turning back to see what had happened, was paralyzed with shock; he couldn’t move out of the vehicle’s path, and was knocked down, wounding his face.
“After being hit, I lost consciousness, and when I woke up, I saw my colleagues had also been severely injured,” he told The Citizen. “We were then taken to the hospital.”
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Kigena Wambura was riding his tricycle nearby and saw the accident, pulling aside to let the reckless driver pass. Afterwards, he chased the car, and caught the driver at a gas station, but the perpetrator signaled Wambura to stay quiet. “I had to obey him because I feared that he could harm me in one way or another,” he said.
The police in Tanzania are on a manhunt to find the driver, who abandoned the car at the gas station, Mwanza police commander Gideon Msuya told local media outlets.
Four of the runners who died were also employees of the Adden Palace Hotel. In an Instagram post memorializing them, the hotel staff wrote, “The management of Adden Palace Hotel is sad to inform the loss of their four workers who died due to accident on July 22, 2023 ... Our hearts and prayers are with them. May they rest in peace.”
The popular running club frequently documents its workouts on Instagram with upbeat videos of the group running, stretching, and doing exercises, with positive captions like “Everyday is a good day when you run,” and “RUN, SWEAT, SMILE, AND REPEAT with us.”
The group, hotel, and local running community are grieving the loss of their friends.
Abby Carney is a writer and journalist in New York. A former D1 college runner and current amateur track athlete, she's written about culture and characters in running and outdoor sports for Runner's World, Like the Wind Magazine, The New York Times, and other outlets. She also writes about things that have nothing to do with running, and was previously the editor of a food magazine.
