Families whose relatives are still missing after the Mai Mahiu dam tragedy have made a passionate appeal to the government not to call off the search and recovery exercise.
With the death toll rising to 61, nine days after the incident, it has emerged that 37 people are still missing following the Monday morning incident that occurred after a seasonal dam in Old Kijabe burst.
This came ahead of a memorial service for all the victims in Mai Mahiu on Thursday as over 50 families that had rented houses in the affected houses were resettled by the county government.
According to Mary Wanjiku who lost four family members including one of her children and the mother-in-law, the pain was becoming sharper and unbearable by the day.
Days after the incident, she said that the bodies of one of her children and that of her sister-in-law had not been recovered, turning the family into emotional wrecks.
She said that the floods clashed through their compound sweeping away all her three children and five other family members including the mother-in-law.
“Good Samaritans rescued me and two of my children, while two of my in-laws perished but the most painful part is that we cannot trace two bodies including that of my child,” she said.
Speaking in a rescue centre in Mai Mahiu where 36 families affected by the tragedy are still camping, she called on the government to assist in recovering all the missing bodies.
Another victim Martha Wanjiru said that they had left their home in the hands of their brother-in-law when the tragedy struck, sweeping everything along the flood-path.
She said that they had searched every hospital and mortuary in the area without any success confirming their fears that their kin was dead.
“My brother had a hand fracture which could have affected his movement and we hope that his body will be recovered so that we can give him a decent burial,” he said.
According to Felix Maiyo, a senior manager with Kenya Red Cross, the recovery process would continue along the flood route with more bodies being recovered every day.
Speaking on the phone, he said that they had managed to recover 61 bodies majority of whom were kids despite emerging challenges like the long stretch of the flood path and heavy debris.
“We have no plans to call off this recovery exercise until that day when it becomes futile but we shall require more resources and personnel to search the whole flood-stretch,” he said.
