A family had to get another vehicle to transport the body of their loved one to Vanga after the driver of the hearse they had hired abandoned the corpse along the road.
Anthony Kioko, a tomato vendor, died a week ago at Coast General Hospital in Mombasa and his body was being taken home for burial yesterday.
The driver was unhappy after Kioko’s colleagues forced him to stop so they could view the body at the Likoni Ferry Channel.
He tried to resist but the vendors surrounded the hearse and refused to give way.
The driver said this was not part of the plan when the hearse was hired. He pulled the coffin bearing Kioko’s remains out of the vehicle and sped off.
Business came to a standstill as some residents watched the unfolding drama from a distance.
The family said it had hired the hearse for Sh16,000, money that had been paid in advance.
Simon Joseph said his brother, who died of brain cancer, had been selling tomatoes at the Likoni Ferry Channel for five years.
“He was one of us. We even contributed to hire the hearse. Why are they denying us a chance to view his body yet not all of us will attend the burial in Vanga,” a trader asked.
Joseph said they were unable to stop the vendors as they insisted on viewing the body and would not give way to the hearse.
Kioko’s widow, identified as Nancy Muthoni, passed out when the driver removed the coffin from the hearse and sped off. She was taken to a nearby clinic for first aid.