Villagers seek help as search for candidate’s body continues

Two families in Kisumu and Migori are mourning the death of their two children, one of them a KCSE candidate who drowned in floodwater.

In Kisumu's Bungu village in Kolwa East, the family of Felix Otieno, who sat for his KCSE this year at St Alloys Mahenya Secondary school, is crying for help after efforts to recover his body proved futile.

Otieno, 18, drowned on Sunday afternoon while herding cattle near a river while in the company of his younger cousin and a neighbour’s child aged seven and 10.

Neighbors said that Otieno was helping the two boys to cross the swollen River Obuso when he drowned while the boys got away.

“I got a report that the boy had carried the minor on his shoulders as he prepared to swim across Obuso River that had broken its banks, but the water currents were too strong for him and he started sinking,” a village elder Pamela Atieno said.

The elder said that the child aged 10 was the one who rushed to save the seven-year-old after Otieno had been overpowered.

Police visited the scene where the boy drowned on Monday.

Otieno’s mother Rose Auma who was strongly hit by the news that his eldest son had drowned and was nowhere to be found said that they had been with him that morning before he left for herding at 10 am.

Area Chief Jenipher Kosome warned villagers of going near the river or grazing cattle along the river banks to prevent further casualties.

And in Migori, the family of a 10-year-old boy who drowned in River Migori is still camping by the river as the search for his body continued for the 12th day.

The family from Wuoth Ogik Village in Suna West appealed to the government to send divers to help them retrieve the body of their son.

Speaking to The Standard on Monday morning, the boy's father, Richard Okeyo, said that he has been walking along the river bank to see if he can retrieve his son’s body.

“I am asking County and National Government to help me retrieve the body of my son. Since he drowned, I have not received any help and I am traumatized” he said.  

The late was a grade III pupil at Migori Primary School. The search for his body has been hampered by the heavy rains.