Residents in Mwingi, Kitui County are mourning the deaths of two people who drowned at Keiya earth dam on Sunday, February 20.
A report by Citizen TV indicated that a high school student passed away while swimming in the dam while Daniel Kasina, a police officer, drowned while attempting to rescue him.
The boy, a student at Mutuang’ombe Secondary School who was aged 15 years, had gone to the dam to fetch water when he decided to swim.
The officer then rushed to rescue him but fell into the dam after slipping from its banks.
The incident was confirmed by Mwingi Central Deputy OCPD Nicholas Mutuma even as the residents claimed that they had lost livestock in the dam.
According to the latest available data published by the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2018, the number of deaths as a result of drowning was 1,472 or 0.58% of total deaths.
The most heart-wrenching incident took place in December 2021 after 33 individuals en-route to a wedding drowned when the bus they were travelling in veered off the road and into the flooded Enziu River.
The family of the groom, Mutua Mbuvi, lost over 10 members, including four children, in the heartbreaking incident.
It was revealed that the driver of the bus was not well versed with the route as well as the bridge.
Since the incident, the state has vowed to erect a proper bridge across the seasonal river that is known to flood during the rainy season and dry most part of the year. 12 people were rescued in the incident.
The WHO also revealed that globally, at least 40 people drown every hour which places Kenya at position 19 out of 172 countries surveyed.
