Authorities in Laikipia have intensified the search for the body of a sand harvester who was swept by raging flood waters of a seasonal river together with his colleague as they loaded a lorry with sand.
Laikipia North Deputy County Commissioner Bernard Odino said one body was later retrieved on Wednesday afternoon after the flood waters subsided while the search for the second victim was still ongoing.
The tragedy struck after the two had just loaded sand into the lorry and were about to drive away from Osupukia River when the water levels rose suddenly following heavy rains upstream, sweeping away the lorry with three occupants.
Odino added that the driver of the tipper lorry managed to hold onto a tree on the banks of the river and luckily survived.
“The lorry loaded with sand was found about 500 metres from the scene. Our security personnel have retrieved the body of one of the loaders, about one kilometre from the scene while the second is still missing. We suspect he was swept downstream to Loisukut lagga (seasonal river) and the search is ongoing,” said Mr Odino.
The DCC added that the search was still ongoing and had been extended further downstream and into tributaries of the seasonal river.
He said heavy rains, currently pounding the region had at times rendered Nanyuki-Doldol road impassable at the river Loisukut crossover drift forcing Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE) to be flown by chopper to some schools in the area.
“This week we have been forced to fly KCSE papers to three schools in Mukogodo West Ward after the raging waters of the seasonal river rendered the road from Doldol Town impassable,” said the administrator.
Presently there is no bridge on River Loisukut which is about a kilometre from Doldol Town thus rendering the road a danger zone when it rains due to flash floods.
In 2016 during a rainy season, an ambulance was swept away with the bodies of two occupants, the driver and nurse yet to be found to date. The two had transferred a patient to the Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital and were on their way back at around 11 pm when the incident happened.
The wreckage of the ambulance was retrieved two kilometres from the scene.
By Martin Munyi
