• At least 30 bodies are said to be missing from the Mai Mahiu tragedy.
• The search entered day 15 on Tuesday. The search party includes KDF and NYS officers.
As the search for the missing victims of the Mai Mahu tragedy enters the third week, hopes of ever recovering some of the bodies is diminishing by the day.
Some families lost all their personal effects, besides relatives.
The 62nd body of a child was found kilometres away from the scene of the tragedy.
The body that was hanging from a shrub was discovered by herders along the flood path.
At least 30 bodies are said to be missing from the Mai Mahiu tragedy.
The search entered day 15 on Tuesday. The search party includes KDF and NYS officers.
Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara promised the families of the government's support in searching for the missing bodies and burying them, even as the resettlement process started.
She said the recovery process is becoming harder and more complicated and some of the bodies could be buried under the tonnes of debris along the flood path.
“There are some people who lost all their effects and the situation has been worsened by their missing relatives but we shall walk the journey with them,” the legislator said.
Sam Mwai, who lost two family members, said they are yet to recover one of the bodies. The other is lying at a private mortuary in Mai Mahiu.
He said the family had decided to wait until the missing body was found so the two could be given a joint burial in the family land in Kenton.
“I lost my uncle and his son and the body of the former has been found. We cannot hold two burials and hence the move to wait for the other to be recovered,” Mwai said.
Felix Maiyo, a senior manager with Kenya Red Cross, said the recovery process would continue along the flood route with the hope of recovering all the bodies.
He said the exercise is becoming tedious and more manpower and resources are needed.
Maiyo told the Star on the phone they had recovered 61 bodies and one head.
He said emerging challenges includes the long stretch of the flood path and the heavy debris.
“We have no plans as of now to call off the recovery exercise until that day when it becomes futile, but we shall require more resources and personnel to search the whole flood-stretch,” he said.