Chaos erupted at the Tudor Water Sports on Sunday evening as the body of Caleb Otieno, one of the three victims of Friday’s racing boat tragedy in Mombasa, was retrieved.
Residents of Bangladesh slums, where Otieno, 21, hailed from, demanded that they be given the body.
The presence of Deputy President Kithure Kindiki did little to calm the slum dwellers, who were agitated saying the DP had been given wrong information.
It all started when Kindiki was addressing the hundreds of mourners, who had gathered at the facility, and had been camping there for two straight days waiting for news of recovery of the bodies.
The DP had thanked the Kenya Navy for their rescue efforts before the Bangladesh residents erupted in disapproval.
“I want to thank those who were involved in the rescuing of lives on the day of the tragedy, Friday evening……..” Kindiki was saying when the Bangladesh residents started making noise.
“What?…What are you saying?….It was not like that?……It was different?….Let one citizen come and explain exactly how it happened,” Kindiki said before two of the survivors volunteered.
Elvis Odhiambo, one of the 19 rescued, then told Kindiki the 19 rescued themselves.
“It was not the way you said it. When the boat capsized, they saved themselves,” Odhiambo said.
Marvin Mejole, also a survivor, said they were not helped by anybody.
“We struggled to save our own lives. I was deep in the water. It is only God who save us. We are here because of God,” Mejole said.
“We expected our safety will be paramount but it was not. When a tragedy happens, we expect life savers to be around. They threw us only one life saver yet we were 22,” Mejole said.
“That should be corrected.”
Kindiki then said: “Thank you for that point of correction. It is said an accident cannot be prevented. I know we are angry but let us respect the dead and the bereaved families. If there is any mistake, we apologize and ask that this not be repeated.”
At this point, the Bangladesh residents started chanting “Mwili! Mwili! Mwili! (Body! Body! Body!)” asking to be given the body.
“I have heard you concerns. What you demand, we will do,” he said before stepping down.
Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir then took the microphone trying to calm the irate crowd.
“While we are here pointing fingers, we have our brothers who we have to bury,” he said amid
He said the families of the deceased will receive their token of condolences when all the three bodies have been retrieved.
“Badi Twalib will get the token on your behalf and bring to you,” he told the families.
“Listen to me Bangla residents. We have to give a chance to the families to mourn their loved ones,” Nassir asked the rowdy residents.
He said after all the bodies have been retrieved, the county and national governments will sit down with the survivors and see how they can be helped.
Jomvu MP Badi Twalib said he will look to it that all the survivors and the families of the deceased are well taken care of.
“We want the government to cater for all the expenses of the funeral arrangements for all the three victims,” he said.
He noted that the traumatised survivors should also be compensated due to the shock they underwent.
Twalib said condemned the residents for not showing respect to the DP.
“He sacrificed his time and came here out of respect. The least we could do is give him respect even though we are angry,” he berated the slum dwellers.
“Let this not happen again!” a now visibly angry Twalib said.
However, after DP Kindiki left the Tudor Water Sports, the Bangladesh residents went on rampage, destroying chairs and tables at the facility, which hosted the ill-fated dragon boat race.
This irked MP Twalib who then ordered all people, except the family members, out of the Tudor Water Sports facility.
He said it is wrong to destroy someone’s property yet they had nothing to do with the tragedy.
By Newshub