The car that slipped from the ferry and fell into the Indian Ocean being retrieved from the ocean. (Kelvin Karani, Standard)
Mariam Kighenda and her daughter Amanda Mutheu died a most painful death locked in a tight embrace, according to images emerging from the car in which they drowned.
Mother and daughter drowned on September 29 and it took rescuers 13 days to retrieve the wreckage of their car from the seabed.
When the wreck was pulled out, the two bodies were found still in an embraced position, indicating that they breathed their last while locked together.
As the corpses were taken away, Likoni OCPD Benjamin Rotich announced that criminal investigations would immediately commence.
SEE ALSO :Let me recover their bodies, Swedish volunteer diver says“A criminal investigation will be launched tomorrow after the postmortem is conducted,” he told Saturday Standard last evening.
Kighenda and Mutheu died in a tight embrace on the back seat of the five seater Toyota ISIS car.
They appear to have been flung backwards by some violent motion as the car dipped into the waters. They could desperately have moved to the back seat to try to break through the back window as the car sunk headlong.
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The corpses were found to be in a fairly decomposing but identifiable state. They were taken to Jocham Hospital mortuary in Mombasa pending possible burial tomorrow or Monday, according to family sources.
CCTV footage
SEE ALSO :Head of Likoni salvage team explains why he kicked out private diversMeanwhile, Saturday Standard has gained access to CCTV footage depicting the moment that car slid from the prow of the MV Harambee ferry and plunged into the ocean at 6.13pm on September 29.
The footage taken from behind the ill-fated car shows its hind lights flickering to indicate danger. Amanda can be seen playing on her mother’s lap on the driver’s seat.
Suddenly the car jerks backwards and keels over into the water. From this footage, the ill fated car was the last on the prow of the ferry.
We also gained some insights into the ego games between the Kenya Navy and private divers that delayed the recovery of the car and corpses. According to these reports the South African diver hired by the grieving family located the car on Monday, but for unknown reasons it was not retrieved from the sea bed.
We also established that the South Africans who left the recovery site on Wednesday were intercepted at Moi International Airport and requested to assist with the lifting of the car from the seabed after it became clear that the mulit-agency team involved in the recovery led by the Kenya Navy was having trouble securing the car and pulling it to the surface.
SEE ALSO :I cry for Mariam and Amanda wasting away in the cold seaAfter 13 days of futile trials, tampered by blame games and conspiracy theories, the government, family, rescue teams and Mombasa residents sighed a collective relief when the car was pulled out of the water at 4.25pm.
As the bodies were retrieved to the surface, questions were mounting about the search and rescue capabilities of Kenya’s Navy in the sea, with base commander Levy Mghalu admitting gross inadequacies.
Mghalu lauded the Kenya Navy divers, saying they braved a barrage of criticism without giving up.
But he appeared to blame the Kenya Ferry Services for not investing in rescue, search and recovery capabilities. He said lessons must be learnt from the 13-day ordeal and the accident preceding it.
“The operation today has come to an end but we have also learnt a lesson,’’ he said and called on the ferry management and other institutions to invest in divers, vessels and equipment for emergencies like this one.
SEE ALSO :Why Likoni recovery bid is yet to bear fruitHe also called on government regulatory bodies to inspect their vessels to establish whether they are seaworthy or meet safety standards. Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho described the September 29 events as tragic and hailed yesterday’s recovery as historic because most people that plunged into the channel since the 1960s were never recovered.
“Let this be a lesson to avert more tragedies in future. Many thought this was an easy task but it wasn’t,” Joho said and accused some unnamed people of fanning hostile propaganda against state agencies during the ordeal.
Great relief
But Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir was more blunt, demanding accountability and legal action “against those who abdicated their duties.”
Family members, including the distraught John Wambua, Ms Kighenda’s husband, expressed a sigh of relief over the successful completion of the grueling operation.
The devastated Mr Wambua only commented: “ I am thankful that this operation has finally come to an end. It comes as a great relief.”
The car was lifted out by a mobile crane from the Mbarak wharf quayside after it had been pulled under water to the shore from the depth of Likoni where it sank.
Divers from the Kenya Navy and Subsea Services of South Africa teamed up in an operation that started at about 10.30 am yesterday.
Kenya Navy and local leaders paid their last respects by throwing rose flowers in to the sea and held prayers at the venue.
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Related Topics
Mariam KighendaAmanda MutheuLikoni Ferry Tragedy
