NAIROBI: On any given day, crossing the Likoni Channel is not for the faint-hearted. That is if the stampede out of the ferries at the end of the 500m journey says something at all or the glum looks of those boarding at the other end. Yet 300,000 people and 3,000 vehicles cross from the mainland to Mombasa each day.
The ageing fleet of seven ferries are prone to mechanical breakdowns. And so it was again on Friday when Kenya Ferry Services (KFS) flagship vessel Mv Nyayo carrying more than 1,500 people developed an engine problem and lost speed before it started drifting toward the high seas.