This archive report was first published on 17 October 2019.
On Wednesday night, a devastating incident occurred in Kitui County, claiming the lives of four people in a night drowning incident.
A double cabin pick-up vehicle, carrying six occupants, fell off a bridge and plunged into the raging waters of the Mutindi stream near Matinyani market.
The four victims were cramped in the back seat, while the two survivors managed to escape by jumping out of the car and swimming to safety.
According to Matinyani OCPD John Sawe, the driver and the front passenger were able to escape the drowning after jumping out of the car and swimming to safety.
‘We have identified some of the victims who are two brothers and an engineer working for Prime Telecoms Limited, an IT firm contracted to install Wi-Fi in the offices of county and deputy county commissioners in Kitui County,’ said Mr Sawe.
The two brothers were being driven to their Matinyani home after a day’s work in Mwingi.
As of 9am, three bodies had been retrieved from the mangled wreck of the van by police assisted by villagers.
The OCPD said his officers were still trying to retrieve the fourth body which is trapped in the vehicle.
Mr Sawe stated that the driver seemed to have underrated the depth of the water before taking the risk to cross the flooded water.
