Standard Seven boy and girl found dead in suspected suicide pact

Two Standard Seven pupils have been found dead in a suspected suicide pact in Marakwet East sub-county.

The two, who were classmates at Chemworor Primary School, were found dead yesterday, sending shock waves across the sleepy village in Sambirir location.

Although it was not immediately confirmed, the two are suspected to have formed a suicide pact and ingested an unknown poison after the girl discovered she was pregnant.

They had been missing since Tuesday and it is believed that is when they might have hatched the plot to kill themselves.

According to area chief Benjamin Kipkemoi, the boy, aged 14, was found dead at his parents' home.

The parents began looking for him when they realised he had not been seen in the morning.

"I was alerted by some locals who heard wails coming from the family's home and when I went to inquire, I found the teenager lying dead," said the administrator.

As the villagers were trying to come to terms with the youngster's death, reports spread that the body of the girl, aged 13, had been discovered in Kipkunur Forest - a stone's throw away from the boy's home.

"Herders grazing livestock around the forest stumbled on the body of the young girl. It is shocking that we had to lose such young lives," said the chief.

He said investigations into the deaths were ongoing.

According to the chief, neither the parents nor the school administration were aware of any relationship between the two.

Kipkemoi said police took the bodies to the Kapsowar Mission Hospital mortuary for postmortem.