Simon Munyao, who lost his wife Ann Mukui in the Ethiopian Airways jet crash on Sunday, tells our reporter a last minute change to travel to Italy with the entire family saved them.
Munyao from Kitise, Makueni County and who now lives with his family in Nairobi says a week ago they had planned to go on a week-long trip to Italy but plans changed after his wife was required to attend a conference alone in Milan, and Turin, Italy.
“We had already planned to have a trip all of us to Italy but a change happened at the last minute. The company she worked for, Techsoup Global, scheduled a conference at the same country and dates that we were to go and we cancelled ours”, Munyao explained.
It was mixed reactions with the father of three recounting his last moments with his loving wife and how the conference, though he lost his wife, saved the rest of the members.
Munyao said his wife arrived in Italy a week ago.
“She used to update me on what she was doing together with her workmates till the last day in the country," he said.
Mueni was a widely-travelled employee owing to the global nature of her employer.
On Sunday, the duo exchanged text messages where she explained that she was flying in via Ethiopia.
“I remember the last message I send to her after explaining she was coming home, I told her “thank you love”. That was the last message I received around 7:15 a.m”, he added.
Hoping to meet his wife, together with his three children left their Kiambu Road to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to receive her.
They expected her to arrive at around 10:15 a.m.
Munyao says that they learned of the Ethiopian airlines having come down aboard 157 passengers through the media.
“We were at the airport as early as 9:30 a.m with my kids. We waited past arrival time and learned of the crash through the media. We were all taken into a hotel where we were briefed and told the names of the victims will be revealed soon,” he said.
After the bad news, the family hoped it was a lie.
After some time of waiting, through the help of a psychologist, they broke the news of the demise to his children
“I told them your mum has gone to be with the lord. The first one, a seven-year-old, who schools at Oshwal Academy cried a lot but she later stopped. She went to school today”, Munyao told the Standard.
Elsewhere, a family in Kabaa, Kathama Location, Machakos County is yet to come into terms with the demise of their loved one, Mutua Benard Musembi who perished in the Ethiopian airlines.
The family said he was working in a petrol station in Qatar since 2014, a job he secured after college.
The 27-year-old man was a source of livelihood after the death of their father some years back.
His mother, Margaret Mutua, friends and relatives recounted the last moments with him in October 2018.
The families now wait for more communication from the government.
