A distressed family from Mwingi, Kitui County is appealing to the national government to assist them trace and retrieve the body of their kin from the crocodile infested river Tana.
The body of Kennedy Muthuvi Mwende, a Garissa based bodaboda operator who went missing 7 days ago was allegedly seen floating on the riverbanks by residents of Mororo two days ago.
According to eyewitnesses account, a crocodile was spotted trying to push the body from the river to the banks. They alerted the Kenya Wildlife wardens.
Talking to KNA at the riverbanks Friday, Ibrahim Habakore, one of the local divers who was the first to spot the body said he called the Garissa warden who immediately arrived.
The warden fired in the air to scare the crocodile and although it released the body, it was swept downstream.
Since then, efforts to search and retrieve the body have proved futile.
Josphat Mutua, a cousin to the deceased said that they sought the assistance of the Kenya Red Cross Society when the locals claimed to have sighted the body.
“The Red Cross provided us with a speed boat. We went as far as Bura, some 100 kms downstream where the locals told us that they saw the body being swept away downstream,” Mutua said.
“I am appealing to the government to assist us with specialized divers from the Navy and other agencies to help trace and retrieve the body,” he added.
Garissa nominated MCA Teresia Titus who joined the family in the search said the family ‘is traumatized for days and need urgent assistance’.
One of the relatives who requested anonymity said that Kennedy’s motorbike was found in Modika area, some 10 kms from Garissa town raising suspicion that he may have been killed and his body dumped in the river.
By Jacob Songok
