Family distressed after kin swept off bridge

DEATHLY BRIDGE: The makeshift bridge from which mother and daughter slipped on Sunday morning and were swept away by the river.
Image: STANLEY NJENGA

BODIES NOT RECOVERED: A quarry worker crosses over the bridge off which a mother and daughter slipped into fast-flowing waters on Sunday.
Image: STANLEY NJENGA

A Githunguri family in Kiambu county is in distress after two of their kin drowned in Ruiru River after falling from a makeshift bridge on Sunday morning.

Lucy Wambui, 50, was trying to cross the river with her 12-year-old daughter Ruth Nduta and son Anthony Njuguna on their way to church.

“I told my mother that I was afraid to cross the bridge but she held my sister’s hand and told me to cling to her back but I refused,” Njuguna said. 

On reaching the middle, he said, they stumbled since the bridge had no supporting ropes and the mother and daughter both fell into the fast-flowing river. 

He started shouting for help as his mother and sister were swept downstream fast, he said. 

“I am devastated by the incident. I could see my sister vanishing into the waters before my mother also vanished as I was rushing along the banks."

I was helpless and could not save them, Njuguna said on Wednesday. 

Wambu's brother Joseph Waweru said he got a call from a crying Njuguna telling him that his mother and sister had been swept away by the river. 

"I immediately reported the matter to Githunguri police."

Waweru said no help has come even from the local leadership "and they have had to rely on the help of youths in the village who have no experience in recovering bodies".

His sister Ann Wanjiru termed the situation as devastating. 

“My sister’s daughter to join Standard 8 next year and was the top student in her school. It is even sadder that we cannot get their bodies no help is coming," Wanjiru said.

Former Githunguri MCA Mwaura Wanjihia and a family member questioned why the national and county governments have not responded to their distress call.

“In Mombasa, we saw government’s efforts and also international help coming to help the woman and child who fell into the ocean in Likoni, are there lesser human beings than others since no help or efforts have been seen in our situation?” Wanjihia asked.

He said that the only response gotten from the Red Cross Society is that they cannot come to the scene unless the bodies are retrieved. 

The family is appealing to well-wishers or private companies for help 'even if it means paying heftily until their loved ones are retrieved'.

The river where Wambui and daughter fell into drains into Ruiru dam and spills over to River Chania.

Heavy rains continue to be experienced in Kiambu county with several incidents of people getting stranded but rescued after some days. Landslides have been experienced in Lari subcounty. However, no casualties have been reported.

Edited by R.Wamochie 

RAGING: Ruiru River into which a woman and her daughter were swept while trying to cross over a makeshift bridge on Sunday.
Image: STANLEY NJENGA