A BODY OF THE THREE PEOPLE WHO DROWNED AT MWINGI STILL MISSING

BY ADMIN

Two bodies of the three people who drowned while in a lorry ferrying charcoal at Enziu River in Mwingi have been recovered. Five people had drowned in the river on Thursday and two among them managed to manoeuvre their way out of the river while the rest died. However, one body is still yet to be recovered from the river.

Death of the three has raised the number of people who have lost their lives since the rains began to seven. This is even after Mwingi OCPD John Nyamu having warned residents against crossing flooding rivers.

Education has been paralysed in various schools at Mwingi after hundreds of school going children have been left stranded. Transport has also been adversely affected due to poor state of many roads.

During the incidence which took place at Enziu River on Thursaday, five people are said to have been boarding a Lorry ferrying charcoal to Nairobi from Imba location in Mwingi East sub county before the lorry broke down in the middle of Enziu River and the five opted to spend the night at the lorry unaware of what was likely to befall them.

According to the residents of the area, the commuters of the Lorry had been warned not to spend the night inside the Lorry but still they insisted that nothing dangerous can happen to them.

David Mbuvi, a resident of the area said that they had warned the five several times but they couldn’t listen to them as they were guarding more than 80 sacks of charcoal which were in the lorry.

"We had warned the five people against spending the night inside the lorry which has broken down in the river, However the won't listen to us as they though our intention was to steal the charcoal in the lorry," narrated Mr Mbuvi.

Mr Mbuvi said that bodies of the two were recovered from the lorry by residents and their bodies rushed to a morgue at Nuu Health center, as the river couldn’t be crossed in order to take the bodies to Mwingi level Iv Hospital.

However, according to him one body is still missing and it can only be traced once water levels in the river go down.

Mutemi Mwaroko, another resident of the area says that many times during rainy seasons in the area, they have been forced to risk their lives to aid their children to cross the river while going to school, as schools like Ivuusya Primary school have pupils from both sides of the river.

"The government should consider constructing a bridge in this area to aid residents in crossing the river, or else more people will continue risking their lives or even drowning, Said Mr Mwaroko.

Mr Mwaroko said not once have residents and even school children spend nights along the banks of the river waiting for the waters to go down so that they may cross.

Currently at the river when the lorry drowned, what is visible is a small part of the metal grills forming the body of the Lorry, as the lorry was overturned by water and immersed in sand leaving only a small part protruding.

What is raising more questions is emergence of details that the lorry was ferrying charcoal, even after the ban which has received a lot of support from local leaders, with Kitui governor Charity Kaluki Ngilu having vowed to continue with the fight come rain, come sunshine.