This archive report was first published on 5 October 2019.
On Friday, the Kenya Rescue Divers, a private team hired by the family of Mariam Kighenda and her daughter Amanda Mutheu, withdrew from the search and recovery operation in the Likoni Channel. The team, led by Musa Owaga, had been searching for the bodies of the woman and her daughter since their car plunged into the Indian Ocean on Sunday.
According to Owaga, the team opted out of the operation on Thursday after being subjected to harassment by the security team they were working with. He claimed that Colonel Lawrence Gituma, who is heading the operation, kicked him out of the operation on Wednesday.
Gituma, a Kenya Navy officer, accused the Owaga team of refusing to follow security regulations. He stated that the ongoing operation can only be conducted in a manner that does not endanger life and that the search and recovery operations are being carried out by a multi-agency team of 13 different entities under one command.
The family had given the divers a Sh100,000 down payment after they agreed to search for the bodies for Sh250,000. The Kenya Navy has since been called to lead the multi-agency search mission that includes Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, Kenya Police, State department of Transport, and Kenya Ferry Services.
Out of the 14 areas that have been marked as possible locations where the car might have sunk, a search has been conducted on only eight. Meanwhile, Owaga has turned down a job offer by Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho, saying his team was internationally acclaimed and his standards of service go beyond that of a municipality.
