The body of a 10-year old boy was on Friday retrieved from the jaws of a crocodile in Lake Baringo.
Grade 3 pupil Brian Kemboi had been missing since April 22 since when a search has been ongoing.
“I had assigned my son to go and herd the family livestock but never returned back home,” father Joshua Kipsinen told the Star on Saturday.
Local divers spotted the crocodile still feasting on the decomposing body at the centre of the lake at Ng'enyin shores on Friday.
The body was recovered without the head, some internal organs like the liver, and limbs.
“We were forced to use a boat-hooking rod to hit the head of the beast so it could discharge the body, then we picked it,” diver Noor Kamau said.
He was among over 10 seasoned Lake Baringo divers who have been on a tireless effort to recover the body of the Ng’enyin Primary pupil.
Kamau said the search has been challenged by massive debris and overgrown Mathenge weeds in the lake.
However, Saimo-Soi Ward MCA Richard Cheserem said there is an upsurge of human-wildlife conflict in the lake accusing Kenya Wildlife Service officers of failing to take action on the two-metre long and about 20 year-old crocodile.
Last year in January, an 11-year old boy from the same school was dragged into the lake and killed by a hippo. Only his right hand was recovered and buried.
Cheserem called upon KWS officers to sensitise residents on the dangers of the beasts to avert such incidents.
Lake Baringo conservation senior warden Jackson Komen said the reptile might have consumed the head of the boy or it may have hidden it under the reeds.
"We will look for the crocodile and have it eliminated since it now poses great danger to the residents," Komen said.
He added that he will follow up to see to it that the bereaved family is compensated.
Bartum Chief William Chebii said the deceased boy’s clothes, a pair of saddles and his herding stick were found at the shores of the Lake the day after he disappeared.
“He may have been watering the livestock before the afternoon attack,” Chebii said.
The was taken to the county referral hospital mortuary in Kabarnet awaiting postmortem before burial.
Edited by R.Wamochie