South African divers to join multi-agency team in Likoni ferry accident

A team of South African private divers are expected to join the multiagency search and recovery mission for the victims of the Likoni ferry tragedy.
Government spokesman Col. (rtd) Cyrus Oguna during a press briefing on Sunday at Likoni crossing channel said the family has hired divers from South Africa to join the recovery of Mariam Kigenda and her four-year-old daughter Amanda Mutheu.
Oguna who was flanked by Kenya Ferry Services (KFS) chairman Dan Mwazo, Managing Director Bakari Gowa and Kenya Navy fleet commander Col Laurence Gituma said seven days later divers are yet to retrieve the bodies of the victims and called for patience.
“The first batch of the foreign divers are expected in the country today and the second batch will arrive on Monday and so on Tuesday they join the multi-agency team involved in the search and recovery operation,” he said.
He went on, ‘we are urging the affected family members and Kenyans at large to be patient as the search intensifies’.
Col. Oguna said the multiagency team has narrowed the search areas to four spots down from 12 in the hunt for the ill-fated vehicle that slid off a moving ferry and plunged into the Indian Ocean last week.
“As we speak we have divers on standby and others diving into the priority areas to locate the vehicle and the occupants and we hope to get significant results in the next few days” he said.
The government spokesman said bad weather, strong currents and bad visibility from rain storms has been hampering the search efforts but assured that despite the conditions the recovery mission will continue on sea.
By Hussein Abdullahi