Grade 5 pupil drowns in River Migori

Young Maccain Okinyi – a Grade Five pupil at the St Gabriel’s Primary school in Nyatike – drowned while attempting to swim across the river in the company of a friend.

The boy was due to join Grade Six when schools reopen in January, 2024.

According to the residents, the deceased had ventured into a nearby Nyatike forest in the company of two other boys, among them his younger brother, when the incident happened.

“There are claims that the boys may have been fleeing the forest when two of them jumped into the river in an attempt to swim cross, but one of them unfortunately drowned, and was washed downstream,” one of the residents of Nyatike told Wananchi Reporting.

The family of the deceased camped at the banks of the river for three days as they waited for the body to resurface.

Teachers from St Gabriel’s Primary school were among residents who visited the family at the banks of river, as they waited for the body to resurface.

Divers spend hours, days, scouring the depths of the river in search of the body.

“The body was found floating several kilometers downstream, and is currently lying at the mortuary,” added the resident.

Residents have asked the police to investigate the incident, with some claiming the boys may have been chased from the forest, causing one of them to panic while fleeing.

The incident happened a few weeks after another resident, Lilian Akinyi, a mother and a trader in Nyatike drowned in River Migori.

Meanwhile, the family of the deceased is making plans to lay his body to rest in the first week of January, 2024.

The body is currently in Migori mortuary.