Two more fishermen feared dead in Lake Naivasha

Members of the public stand at the shores of Lake Naivasha where three fishermen had drowned on August, 13 2015. (Photo: Antony Gitonga/Standard)

Two fishermen are feared dead after their boat capsized in Lake Naivasha on Saturday evening during a fishing expedition.

Two of their colleagues were rescued an hour after the incident which took place around Kasarani area as efforts to search for the duo kicked off.

This comes barely a week after three other fishermen from Karagita estate drowned in the lake while on a similar mission.

One of the bodies is yet to be found despite divers from the Kenya navy joining in the search mission around the lake.

In the Kasarani incident, the four had ventured into the lake to lay their nets when the accident occurred.

A witness, James Ochido, said that fishermen passing by managed to rescue the duo but the other two could not be found as darkness had set in.  

"Two of the fishermen were rescued a few hours after the accident but we are not sure about the fate of the others," he said.

Lake Naivasha boat owners association chairman David Kilo attributed the accident to strong winds in the lake which caused the boat to capsize.

"This is the second accident in the lake in the last one week and we are calling on our members to observe safety measures while fishing," he said.

This came as the national disaster management unit called off the one week search for the missing fisherman.

The search was called off as water hyacinth was making it impossible for the rescue team to navigate around the lake.

The unit acting director Pius Masai said the weed had proven to be difficult to handle with divers having to seek alternative ways to access the area.

"The search efforts had been boosted by the arrival of divers from Kenya Navy but there is little we can do owing to water hyacinth that has covered the lake".