This archive report was first published on 1 October 2019.
On September 29, 2019, a devastating accident occurred at the Likoni ferry in Kenya, claiming the lives of Mariam Kigenda and her four-year-old daughter Amanda Mutheu. Their husband and father, John Wambua, has shared a heart-wrenching account of their last conversation before the tragedy.
According to Wambua, he spoke with his wife at around 6:15 pm, and she informed him that she had driven onto the ferry. He recalls, "I knew she would be home soon despite her complains on the long ques at Likoni." However, their conversation was cut short as Wambua later discovered the news of a drowning car at Likoni on Twitter.
He immediately tried to reach his wife through her cellphone but was unable to get through. It was then that he realized something was amiss. Wambua rushed to the Likoni police station, where the police confirmed that his wife and daughter had drowned while in their car.
The distraught man has also expressed his frustration with the delays in the search for their bodies, which began 20 hours after the tragedy. He stayed at the Likoni Channel, waiting for the retrieval of their bodies, but was told that the search efforts had been called off.
Wambua's sister-in-law, Catherine Wanjala, has also spoken out about the family's despair, stating, "No one is concerned about my sister and her daughter. The search teams do not also want to retrieve their bodies. We have not received a word from the navy or the Kenya Ferry Services."
