Drama at a Kericho mortuary after family finds kin's body missing

Drama unfolded at Lazarus Funeral Home, Siloam Hospital mortuary on Tuesday after a family from Kebeneti village in Kipkelion West, Kericho County discovered that the body of their kin whom they had gone to collect for burial had already been released to another family and buried.

According to the family spokesman Joseph Langat, they were shocked after the mortuary attendant removed a different body from the one of 88-year-old Kipkoros Mutai for processing.

“We raised an alarm after identifying that the body was different from their kin's after discovering that it had some physical features that our uncle did not have,” Langat said.

After a confrontation, the hospital management disclosed that the body was released to another family from Kiboeet in Seretut Ward, Belgut constituency on Thursday last week and was buried on Friday.

Julius Ruto, the Seretut family spokesman, said he raised concerns that the body was different from their uncle, identified as Joel Kipngeny Chumo, 95, when it was being processed for burial last Thursday.

But after attempting to explain to the mortuary attendant, Ruto said he defied him and threatened to detain him at the morgue if he did not accept to take the body.

He revealed that some of his relatives who had gone together to collect the body agreed that the body was that of their kin, making him surrender although unsatisfied.

Ruto said he was not shocked when he received a call that they had taken the wrong body for burial.

The hospital's director Franklin Bett has apologized to the two families for the mix-up.

Bett said the Seretut family appeared to have taken the body without proper scrutiny, adding that he discovered that the two old men were almost identical.

He said the mix-up was not malicious in any way and such an incident had not happened in the facility for the last 24 years in operation.

Bett said the hospital administration had reported the matter at Kericho police station and will file an affidavit in court on Wednesday to enable the family to exhume the already buried body.

“We have amicably resolved the matter and the hospital will assist the two families in burying their kin,” said the hospital director.