Kenya Ferry Services has ordered for the closure of the Likoni Ferry Channel for two hours as operations to retrieve the bodies of a mother and her daughter who drowned at the Indian Ocean enters day two.
The channel is to remain closed from 9:00 am to 11:00am.
Locals have flocked the Likoni Ferry in Mombasa ahead of closure of the channel.
The family of 35-year-old Mariam Kigenda and her 4-year-old daughter, Amanda Mutheu, have been forced to hire private divers to retrieve their loved ones’ bodies after the exercise was called off Tuesday evening.
The State, through key agencies, including the Kenya Ferry Services and the Kenya Ports Authority, had launched a search for the bodies on Monday, a day after Kigenda and her child plunged into the sea while aboard their vehicle, which slid off MV Harambee Ferry.
Two days later, the bodies are yet to be removed from the waterbody.
Transportation of passengers across the Likoni channel was Tuesday afternoon temporarily halted to allow the Kenya Navy, Kenya Ports Authority officers and Kenya Coast Guard Services officers to get into the water and retrieve the victims’ bodies.
The temporary closure of the channel lasted over 30 minutes.
The Kenya Ferry Services managing director, Bakari Gowa, said Mariam’s body and that of her child, Amanda Mutheu, were spotted 75 feet (23 meters) under the water surface.
The vehicle which they were travelling in, a Toyota Isis, was located 173 feet (53 meters) below the water surface.
And following the unsuccessful operation by the State to remove the bodies from the sea, Kigenda’s family now says they have “lost hope” in government agencies, and have sought help from private divers known to have successfully undertaken a similar exercise.
By Tuesday evening, Kigenda’s family had already paid Ksh100, 000 to a private company – Kenya Rescue Divers – to undertake the exercise, said the family spokesperson Luka Mbati.
