Grief as mother and her twin children drown in River Yala

The woman and her twin children drowned under unclear circumstances. [iStockphoto]

A mother and her twins have drowned in River Yala, Bondo sub-county.

Eveline Atieno is said to have gone to the riverbank with the two children to wash their clothes. The 35-year-old woman and her twins are from Mileng'a village, assistant chief Austin Bunde said.

Her husband came home and found them missing.

"Upon inquiring about her whereabouts, the husband was told she had gone to wash clothes on the river bank, prompting the husband to walk down to the river and only find the clothes, but the woman with the twins was missing," Bunde said.

In the end, the husband and other relatives who were already gathered on the river bank learned that one of the twins' bodies had been recovered from across the river, the chief said.

Bunde said the family continued the search until late in the evening before they resumed the search on Saturday morning and recovered the woman's body.

"The search to retrieve the third body is underway," he said.

According to tradition, the bodies which have already been recovered will remain at the river bank until the remaining body is retrieved.

Elsewhere in Gem sub-county, the bodies of a 22-year-old man and a nine-year-old girl who drowned in River Yala on Tuesday were retrieved.

James Ombima is said to have died while trying to rescue Mitchelle Adhiambo, who was drowning after she slipped into the river while drawing water.

Ombima's elder brother Samuel Nyadue said he was attending to his vegetable farm at the river bank when he heard one of the children screaming that Adhiambo was drowning.

He immediately rushed to rescue her when he too drowned.

The bodies have since been removed by the police and taken to the Yala sub-county hospital mortuary for post-mortem.