Huruma death toll rises to 40 as mortuary opens doors for identification

Resident of huruma carries his belongings moving out from Buildings adjacent to the collapsed huruma building marked for demolition on 5th May 2016 PHOTO DAVID GICHURU

The death toll from the Huruma building tragedy has risen to 40. Twenty three bodies have been identified but the identities of 17 are unknown.

City Mortuary was a beehive of activity yesterday after The Standard highlighted claims by families and friends that officials at the mortuary had barred them from viewing the bodies of their loved ones in full.

A spot check by The Standard showed mortuary attendants welcoming relatives and friends into the facility after registering with Government officials within the compound.

"We are really contented with the process here. Things are moving very fast. I lost my 18-month-old child in the tragedy but it took long for doctors to do an autopsy and I was worried about the decomposing state of the body. You need to make loud noise for your distress call to be heard in this country," said Kevin Oduor.

Like other families who identified their relatives positively, Oduor said he was waiting for the postmortem results of his child.

However, City Mortuary Senior Funeral Superintendent David Wanjohi denied the reports that had cast doubt on their operations.

"Let me clarify this. The mortuary is open to the public. We don't deny access to the public to claim the bodies of their relatives," Mr Wanjohi said.

He said since September last year, they have been using modern digital identification technology to assist families identify their relatives with ease.

He added that an electric embalming process, which is currently used by the mortuary attendants, can keep bodies for more than 12 months without them decomposing.

"These people are just making false and baseless claims over this morgue. In fact, our services have improved and we have introduced a modern technology to preserve bodies. Our services are open to the public and we don't deny people access to identify bodies," Wanjohi said.

Inside the mortuary, two officials were busy using the latest technology to preserve the bodies that have been lying there. The new technology referred to as 'electric embalming machine' preserves the body after an incision is made in a vein (thigh, neck or arm) and cavity fluid injected.

Wanjohi confirmed the Government pathologist was carrying out postmortems and 11 bodies had been cleared.

He said they expected the autopsy examination of the bodies to be done by yesterday.

"We will make sure the postmortem examination of all the bodies that were brought to the morgue are completed by Thursday as families come to identify them. The bodies will be ready for disposal to the owners once we finish our part," he said