Three families in Mishomoroni area, Kisauni Constituency, Mombasa County are mourning the loss of four children, including a brother and a sister, who drowned in a septic tank on Friday evening.

The children, aged six, seven and eight, drowned when the lid of the tank in Machafuko Village caved in at around 3pm on Friday as they played atop it.

Rains that have been pounding the lower coastal belt in the past one week appear to have combined with the children’s combined weight, leading to the tragedy.

Mr Noordin Musa said he saw the children play on the tank and warned them against it. Even before the children could follow his orders, the lid had caved in, and they were swallowed.

“They were five, and one was away from the four who were on top of the pit,” Musa said yesterday.

He told The Standard on Sunday that after walking less than 10 metres away, he heard a thud and sound of the crumbling concrete, and turned to see the open pit with the children submerged. “I shouted for help and on moving nearby saw the helpless children waving. Help did not come fast, and the children just died,” he said.

Musa said personnel from the Mombasa County Fire Brigade arrived an hour later to retrieve the bodies. Three bodies were recovered in quick succession, but the fourth one of Master Ismali Mula, aged 7, and a class two pupil at Chris Preparatory Academy, was found at around 7pm on Friday.

The late Ismail Mula’s mother, Salma Njokabi said: “He was my second born son and had gone out to play with his friends when death struck. It is unfortunate that I lost him in such a way,” she said as relatives and friends gathered at her Swahili house to prepare the burial of her son according to Islamic rights yesterday.

In the same neighbourhood, primary school teacher Millicent Owuor, a widow, lost her children Caleb Onyango, 7, and Menry Owuor 10, in the tragic incident .

Millicent was not at home when journalists arrived and was said to have gone to the Coast Provincial General Hospital (CPGH) mortuary where the bodies were taken for preservation. Her son, who identified himself as Solomon Otieno, said he was away attending holiday tuition when colleagues told him of the incident.

“At first I thought they were pulling a prank on me but when I got home, I saw many people had gathered outside our home and I confirmed my worst fears,’’ he said.

Another mourning parent, Moses Otieno, a carpenter, said he lost his only child, Otieno Junior, a Standard One pupil at Wisdom Academy, in the incident.

“I have four other children... I am lost for words,” he said.

A resident, Christine Obiero, blamed unnamed locals who have been vandalising metallic lids on septic tanks for the accident. “The tank easily gave in after it was vandalised,” she alleged, adding that the spot where the incident occurred is popular with village residents who frequent it to pass time. She said even breastfeeding mothers while away time sitting on the tank.