Families identify 11 bodies retrieved from River Yala

According to Gem Deputy Commissioner Mosero Chacha, eleven bodies had been identified and chosen for burial by their families as of Tuesday.

Commissioner Chacha told The Standard that they have applied to the courts to have the remaining bodies buried because no one has claimed them.

"In total we have 26 bodies in our morgues. Eleven have been identified and collected while 15 are yet to be collected," he said.

"We are however still doing DNA tests for families that show up to identify the bodies as we wait for the court."

In February, Siaya Governor Cornel Rasanga announced that all unclaimed bodies at the Yala sub-county hospital mortuary would be transferred to the Nairobi City Mortuary as investigations into their identities continued.

The mortuary, according to Governor Rasanga, had reached capacity and was overburdened. He believed the unidentified bodies do not belong in Siaya residents since nobody has been reported missing from the county.