Team retrieves body of KCPE candidate who drowned in Lamu

 

The body of a Standard 8 pupil who drowned while swimming with friends on Sunday evening at Baharini area in Mpeketoni has been found.

A search and rescue team recovered the body of 14-year-old Mark Kamau after camping in the area of the accident for three days.

The team had on Monday recovered the body of 19-year-old KCSE candidate Anthony Kang’ethe.

The two were among a group of friends who went swimming on Sunday afternoon when they were swept downstream by the heavy current.

The bodies are lying at the Mpeketoni Subcounty Hospital morgue.

Lamu county disaster response team leader Luqman Abdulaziz on Wednesday advised parents to dissuade their children from swimming in the Indian Ocean.  

“The search has been on since Sunday. We had hoped to find them alive but, unfortunately, we recovered their bodies. Our biggest appeal is to parents to warn their children against swimming in the ocean,” he said.

The Lamu child protection office has urged parents to give their children basic swimming lessons to reduce their chances of drowning. 

Child protection officer Abdulaziz Sadique said many cases of drowning were of those of children with little ability to swim.

He said the number of unaccompanied children flocking to beaches in Lamu had increased considerably because of Covid-19 closure of schools. 

“If you know your child can’t swim, tell them to stay out of the Indian Ocean or any water body. If they have to swim, make sure to be around and supervise,” he said.