Govt Acquires Robot to Retrieve Likoni Ferry Tragedy Victims [VIDEO]

The Government on Wednesday, October 2 unveiled its grand plan to retrieve the bodies of Likoni tragedy victims.

Speaking on live television, government spokesperson Colonel (Rtd) Cyrus Oguna who was in Mombasa disclosed the measures the government was undertaking in retrieving Mariam Kagenda and her daughter who drowned on Sunday evening, September 29.

He outlined the activities that the government had lined up for the operation that had been unsuccessful so far.

"Today's project will be to determine the exact location of the sunken car and bodies. This will be made possible by the use of a robot that will give the exact location of the vehicle because as per now, those who were able to locate the car only gave a general area," disclosed Oguna.

"Afterwards, we will need to ensure that the vehicle will not be swept away to another location by waves in the ocean," he added.

The went ahead to explain that ocean depths also have powerful waves that can easily carry the car and its occupants to a different area.

Afterwards, retrieval equipment and divers would then descend into the waters to acquire the vehicle and bodies.

According to Oguna, the operation had been slowed down by several crucial factors with the biggest being the depth of the water in that particular area that was about 70 meters.

The darkness in the water and the strong waves on the ocean floor also slowed down the operation.

"Ships and thousands of people use this route and closing it for 24 hours will affect the normal operations bringing Mombasa economy to its knees," disclosed Oguna.

Previously, the Kenya Ferry Services on Tuesday, October 1, had announced the temporary closure of the Likoni Ferry crossing point to facilitate the location of the vehicle and removal of the victims.

This comes after reports that the family of the ferry tragedy allegedly paid private divers to help in retrieving the bodies of their loved ones from the Indian Ocean.

Mariam Kigenda's family allegedly parted with Ksh100,000 to a private company identified as the Kenya Rescue Divers to take over from where, they stated, the government had failed.