We are unappreciated, Mombasa diver cries out

Musa Sila, team leader of Kenya Rescue Team. His team has been tasked alongside the Kenya Navy to retrieve the bodies and the vehicle that plunged into the Indian Ocean. [Courtesy]

After the Sunday evening tragedy, it emerged that the Kenya Ferry Services company does not have emergency teams on its vessels.

Musa Sila was at home on Sunday evening when he received a phone call that his services were urgently needed after a Probox with two passengers plunged into the Likoni Channel, Mombasa.

He is one of the founders of the Kenya Rescue Team, a private diving unit that is naturally, alongside the Kenya Navy and the Coast Guard expected to retrieve the bodies and the car.

When Musa arrived at the scene, however, he was firm that he could not dive without a contract. He cited his previous rescue missions that went unrewarded by the government. 

“I am not going inside there as the old Musa you knew. I will only go there with a contract,” Musa is seen telling a television reporter.

The rescue operation was postponed to Tuesday Morning.

Safety first

Apart from the contract issue, safety of the divers was also a concern that led to the postponement of the search and rescue. 

“You have to consider your safety. That is the first thing we were taught. Safety first and then I can dive,” said Musa. 

According to Musa, a little headache or a minor health setback rules out a diver from descending underwater. 

“I have to ascertain that I am okay,” he told the reporter.

Used and dumped

The Kenya Rescue Team has accused the government of being oblivious to their services. 

According to Musa, after various rescue missions across the country, the government has frustrated them with unfulfilled promises of employment. 

“They lied to us that they will station us at the Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Ferry or Kenya Navy but nothing has been done. When incidents occur, they look for us,” says Moses.

The private divers were part of the rescue teams that were tasked with the search for victims of a helicopter that crashed into Lake Nakuru in 2017.

“No one sponsors us; we conduct all the operations on our own,” said Musa.

The Kenya Ferry Services confirmed that it does not have any divers to respond to such incidents but depended on the swiftness of the Kenya Navy and private divers. 

Overshadowed

Musa says that he is a professional diver and has conducted rescue missions abroad. 

He is piqued that he shook hands with the Queen of England but was barred from President Uhuru Kenyatta’s launch of the Blue Economy Project in Mombasa on grounds that he was not a licensed diver.

“They restrained me from attending the function at the Kenya Fisheries Research Institute yet I am the first person to be called when this [the plunging of the car into the ocean] happened.”

According to Musa, the Kenya Coast Guard Service (KCGS) is supposed to be at the forefront when marine disasters occur.

The Coast Guard operates in high seas and is tasked with protecting Kenya’s territorial waters against terrorism, piracy, illegal fishing, human and drug trafficking among other maritime crimes.

Musa says his diving unit expressed interest in joining the Coast Guard was turned on grounds that they had to be soldiers first.  

Standby rescue team

Musa has asked the government to employ divers in its disaster management agencies.

“There are so many young and unemployed people who are better divers than me. The government should train and employ them. When Musa dies, it should not be the end of rescuing operations.”

In the interview, an unnamed woman is captured appreciating Musa’s diving skills.