This archive report was first published on 9 December 2019.
On Sunday afternoon, 18-year-old Felix Otieno, a KCSE candidate from St Alloys Mahenya Secondary school, drowned in the swollen River Obuso in Kisumu's Bungu village in Kolwa East.
According to neighbors, Otieno was helping two younger boys, aged 7 and 10, cross the river when he was overpowered by the strong currents and started sinking.
A village elder, Pamela Atieno, reported that Otieno had carried the 7-year-old on his shoulders as he prepared to swim across the river, but the water currents were too strong for him.
Police visited the scene on Monday, and Area Chief Jenipher Kosome warned villagers to stay away from the river and not graze cattle along the river banks to prevent further casualties.
Meanwhile, in Migori, the family of a 10-year-old boy who drowned in River Migori is still searching for his body, which has been missing for 12 days.
The boy's father, Richard Okeyo, appealed to the government to send divers to help retrieve the body, saying he has been traumatized by the lack of help since his son's drowning.
Published on December 9, 2019
