Tragedy has struck a family in Majengo area in Kilgoris town in Transmara West after a 30-year-old woman drowned in a river on Saturday evening.
Confirming the incident, Transmara West Sub-County Police Commander Mr Hamisi Ganzallah said the woman (name withheld) who was said to be epileptic had gone to shower on the banks of River Kisumu Ndogo at around 5 PM and is suspected to have got a seizure and fallen into the river and drowned.
The body of the deceased has been retrieved and moved to Kisii Referral Hospital Mortuary in the neighbouring Kisii County pending postmortem and further investigations into the incident.
Drowning is a serious issue in the country which has no clear data. It’s a calamity that is common especially during the heavy rain seasons in the country as people try to cross swollen or flooded rivers.
In March this year, tragedy struck a family in Ntulele area in Narok East Sub-county after three siblings drowned while washing clothes in a dam in the area.
This tragedy came just a day after a 19-year-old Maasai Mara University student drowned in River Narok near Narok GK prison in Narok North Sub-county on Saturday afternoon.
According to a report from the World Health Organization (WHO), 40 people drown in the world every hour, three of them being young people. Kenya is placed at position 19 among 172 countries of the world with the highest rates of accidental drowning with a rate of 9.85 out of every 100,000 people (about 10per cent).
According to the WHO report, more than 90 per cent of these deaths by drowning occur in low- and middle-income countries.
Africa also has the highest number of drowning cases in the world with drowning mortality rate at 13.1 per 100,000 populations, but clear data is not available in most African countries. Making it difficult for governments to make informed decisions surrounding disaster.
By Mabel Keya –Shikuku
