A Geography lesson for Form One students of a school in Yatta Sub-county in Machakos has left parents and teachers mourning the untimely death of four students. The four, a girl and three boys, were classmates at Syokisinga Secondary School in Kyua Location. They drowned in River Athi where they had been accompanied by two of their teachers for a field lesson on Friday afternoon.
One of the students interviewed by The Sunday Standard said the deceased and few others decided to swim in one of the pools before the rest could arrive. “One group rushed ahead of the rest because they wanted to arrive before the teachers. Unfortunately, they ventured into a dangerous pool where they disappeared and drowned,” the student said. The body of the girl was retrieved on Friday evening, just a few hours after she and her colleagues took the fatal dive into Ukambani’s biggest river. However, rescue operations were called off after night fall and resumed yesterday morning. The three other bodies were retrieved yesterday afternoon after vigorous efforts involving local residents and professional divers.
Machakos County Director of Emergency Services, David Mwongela said professional divers applied ‘rope rescue gears’ technology to find the three bodies. “The search exercise has been concluded after successful retrieval of the bodies, which was spearheaded by our professional divers. The rest of the matter is now in the hands of the police,” Mr Mwongela said.
