Bodies of four flood victims recovered

NAROK, KENYA: Police and members of the public have retrieved four bodies out of the reported six people who drowned at a river in Narok South.

The six drowned after the vehicle they were travelling in was swept away by flash floods as it was attempting to cross a bridge on Tuesday evening.

It has however emerged that the number of people in the vehicle could have been more than six following a witness’s recount of events.

A witness said the G-touring vehicle,  which was travelling from Ololulung’a trading centre to Nkareta area via Ole Polos Bridge where it was swept  away, was overloaded.

“I saw the vehicle before it left Ololulung’a for Nkareta shortly after the heavy rains subsided. It had about 10 people,” said a witness who declined to be named.

Narok Police Boss Peterson Maello confirmed the incident adding that the bodies recovered were of a baby girl, a woman and two men. He added that efforts to retrieve more bodies were being hampered by the rising water levels and rains.

The driver of the ill-fated car, which was recovered metres away from Ole Polos bridge, managed to get out of the vehicle and swim to safety along with two other occupants.

They were taken to Ololulung’a District Hospital where they were treated of minor injuries and later discharged.

Efforts to trace the driver and the survivors to shed light on how many people were in the vehicle were fruitless as their relatives and those who knew them indicated that immediately after being discharged they never reported to their respective homes.

The retrieved bodies were taken to Narok North District Hospital.  Relatives and friends of those still missing are camping along the river banks in the hope that more bodies will be recovered.

 “Police will remain along the banks of the river until all the bodies are recovered. We are yet to establish how many people were in the vehicle,” said Maello.

The Narok South MP Korei Lemein who visited the scene asked the Government to raise Ole Polos Bridge to avoid such incidents in the future.

Elsewhere, hundreds of people living in Suswa plains have abandoned their homes to higher ground. Schools have been closed and roads are severely damaged by floods occasioned by heavy rains.

Motorist plying the Narok-Mai Mahiu road have expressed worries that if the rains continues, most section of the road will be swept by raging floods from Mt. Longonot and Suswa mountains.