Sorrow as bodies of KDF officer, two sons are retrieved from quarry

The bodies of a soldier and his two sons were Wednesday retrieved from a quarry filled with rainwater in Thika after they drowned Tuesday evening.

Sergeant James Kobia drowned after jumping into the pool while attempting to rescue his two sons, aged seven and 11. The two drowned as they were swimming in a pool of water at the Barracks Grounds in Makongeni.

Police said the two slid into the quarry full of water and believed to be 30 feet deep drowning.

When the father was informed of the incident he used a tyre to jump into the pull of water in efforts to rescue his sons but also drowned.

It was until Wednesday when the bodies were retrieved by personnel from the Kenya Defence Forces Disaster Response Unit and taken to Defence Forces Memorial Hospital mortuary in Nairobi.

Locals demanded that the pool be refilled with soil.