Bodies of Kitui drowning victims recovered
Four bodies of people who drowned at River Enziu in Kitui County three weeks ago were recovered on Tuesday trapped inside the vehicle they were traveling in.
A mangled wreck of the Toyota Probox was found buried in the riverbed, and the bodies were positively identified by their relatives.
The victims, two women and two men went missing on April 16, after their car was swept away by the swollen river.
Rescue teams drawn from the county government of Kitui, Kenya Red Cross, National Youth Service and Disaster Management Unit camped by the riverside since mid last month but were not able to trace the bodies.
According to County community liaison officer David Mbisi, the bodies were found about 100 metres downstream from the river’s bridge after days of excavating the river bed.
Mr Mbisi who coordinated search efforts said even though the four people were found dead, the discovery of their bodies was to some extent, a relief to their families who had spent three weeks agonizing over the disappearance of their loved ones.
“The grieving families and search teams did a lot of work but initially concentrated searching for the bodies along the river banks, only to be found where they least expected hidden beneath the river” the county officer said.
Every morning, the families converged at the bridge but hopes of finding them alive faded after they failed to either spot the car or any of their belongings.
The victims are said to have left Nairobi on the fateful Monday morning in a taxi hired by one of them Judith Ndunge, to attend the burial of her sister in law at Nuu Village in Mwingi scheduled for the next day.
Ms Ndunge, a mother of two was accompanied by her friend identified as Cecilia Kinuthia while the taxi driver Dominic Ndunda took along his friend Robert Ngonzi to help him in case their car got stuck in mud.
However, their journey ended barely 10 kilometers away from their intended destination when they were consumed by raging floods as they attempted to cross the river.
This prompted complaints from the families that they have been left on their own to search for their drowned relatives by authorities responsible for handling disasters despite having made the necessary appeal for help.
According to Mwanzia Mwinzi, Ms Ndunge whose husband (his uncle) died four years ago, was supposed to join them for the burial of his mother on April 17th but the family came to learn of their disappearance three days later.
“It a double tragedy for our family because after burying our mother, we lost our auntie and three other friends without trace” Mr Mwinzi a trader in Thika told the Nation at the scene.
For three weeks, they’ve spent each day along the Enziu river combing its banks in the hope of finding their loved ones until Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu intervened to mobilize experts from the Disaster Management Unit to help in the search.
Mr David Matavo who lost his nephew in the tragedy said they still believe their loved ones are buried in the river and that days of heavy rains hampered rescue efforts.
“We last heard from my nephew through a distress text message he sent alerting us that his vehicle was stuck at Enziu River and that they were in grave danger” Mr Mativo said adding soon after his phone went off and nothing was heard of them again.
He complained that the drowning of four people without a trace had traumatized their families and wasn’t a small thing but was being treated very casually by the government yet there were enough capacity to help in search efforts.
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