Uasin Gishu County firefighters retrieving the bodies of two people who suffocated in m a borehole
Two people, including a secondary school student have died by suffocation while cleaning a borehole near Kabongo in Uasin Gishu County.
Residents of Kermetio village are in shock following the death of two young men who had been deployed to clean the borehole at a homestead in the area.
Kabongo area assistant chief Wilson Kosgey and Kermetio village elder Paul Biwot identified the victims as 18-year-old Ariel Lumilio and a Form Four student at Racecourse Secondary School, Kipngetich Cheruiyot.
The deceased were close friends and died while trying to clean the borehole at the home located in Kapseret subcounty.
The chief said Kipngetich drowned when he tried to save Lumilio who was the first to suffocate
in the deep borehole.
According to the Uasin Gishu Chief Fire Officer David Sitati, cases of people dying due to suffocation while trying to clean boreholes have increased in the last three months.
Sitati said his team of firefighters was called to the scene to retrieve the bodies of the two victims.
“We are discouraging residents who are not trained from doing such risky work like cleaning boreholes,” Sitati said.
He said residents with boreholes should seek professionals to clean or repair their boreholes using modern machinery.
Sitati said his team had been called to respond to several such incidents in the region within the last few months.
”Let's be careful not to lose our people through such avoidable incidents," Sitati said, adding that such cases should be avoided at all costs.
The Uasin Gishu County government fire brigade retrieved the two bodies, which were later taken to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital Mortuary.
Police from the nearby Kiambaa police station arrived at the scene for investigations and later took the bodies to the morgue.
Uasin Gishu county police commander Benjamin Mwanthi said his officers were still investigating the inciident.
