It was a night of panic in Kiganjo village in Gitugi ward, Murang’a after six people among them three children were buried alive by a landslide. The landslide befell in the sleepy village shortly after midnight following heavy rains accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning.
Information pertaining to the incident spread like bush fire in the village, but the volunteers could not do much following the heavy rains that pondered the locality hampering the rescue mission.
Early in the morning, the residents from the village led by Moses Mubena rushed to the scene where three houses were buried as well as the family livestock.
A couple was retrieved from the debris and rushed to Kiria ini mission hospital where they were pronounced dead.
Hours later as the locals pleaded for support with an excavator to help in the search, delayed missing bodies of a mother and her three children were retrieved at 11.30 am.
Murang’a Kenya Red Cross Coordinator Immaculate Itemba appreciated the residents in Mathioya for the support as they braved heavy rains in the retrieval of tonnes of mud as they searched for the missing persons.
” We managed to retrieve six bodies from the debris and moved to Kiria ini Mission Mortuary, as the residents from the village, especially those who live near the area where the incident occurred asked to relocate to Mutitu Polytechnic and Ngutu primary school for safety,” said the KRC official.
She said the organisation will ensure the residents while at the camps will be supplied with food and other basic needs. Gitugi MCA Edwin Wairagu Mwangi pleaded with the residents in Kiganjo village to relocate to safer grounds to avert more deaths and destruction to properties.
” It has been decided that Mutitu polytechnic and nearby Ngutu primary schools are best to host the families,” said Wairagu.
The MCA hit at the Murang’a county government for failure to hire earth moving equipment to assist in the rescue mission.