Kirinyaga: Two children dead after drowning in a dam while swimming, fishing

A somber mood has engulfed Kiandai Village in Mwerua Location of Ndia, Kirinyaga County, after two boys drowned in a dam on Thursday evening.

According to Mwerua Location Chief John Mwai, the children - aged 15 and 10 - had gone swimming and fishing with a group of friends when the incident occurred.

Chief Mwai identified them as Victor Mwangi, 15, a Grade 7 pupil, and Ryan Njoroge, 10, a Grade 4 pupil at Kiandangae Primary School.

Residents who witnessed the events of the day said the boys were part of a group of about 10 children who had gathered at the dam to fish.

Lilian Wambui and Mercy Kinyua, who were on their way to a women’s group meeting, said they met the children and advised them to head home.

“We told them to go back home. Later, when we returned, we were shocked to find local divers searching the dam only to be informed they were looking for the same boys we had told to go home,” Wambui said.

A distraught Mercy Kinyua, who teaches Ryan in Grade 4, wept as she held the boy’s pair of shoes. She said she had spoken to him shortly before he made his way to the dam, which is about two kilometres from his home.

“I have already informed his mother who is outside the country, she works in Qatar,” said Ryan’s aunt, Faith Murimi, who was at the scene.

The tragedy has reignited calls for the dam to be secured. Residents claim the dam was created more than 10 years ago when murram was extracted from the land by the former county government.

It was initially fenced off, but locals say the fence was later vandalized and the wire sold to scrap metal dealers.

Search efforts for the two bodies are ongoing, led by Chief Mwai and officers from Baricho Police Station.

“We are studying the dam and predicting potential locations of the bodies with the help of divers,” Chief Mwai said.