The remains of a relative who allegedly dived to her death at the Kilifi Bridge, 60 kilometers distant in Kilifi town, is being sought by a Kilifi family from Malindi town.
Beatrice Neema Kalume, 22, a final-year student at the Shanzu Teachers College in Mombasa County, reportedly left her house in Malindi on Thursday of last week. It has been four days since she hasn’t been seen.
Neema’s mother, Mary Mwadondo, said that her daughter left the house early on Thursday morning but would not say where she was heading.
“She left at 3: 55am and I asked her where she was going and she told me she wanted to drink tap water within the compound but she failed to return, that is when I woke up his brother to try to find out but she could not be traced,” she said.
The area chief in Malindi was informed, she continued, and later that day he told them that a woman with an identical name to their daughter had committed suicide that very morning near the Kilifi Bridge.
“The chief in Malindi broke the news to us that she had committed suicide and her national identity card and phone were at the Kilifi police station. We then immediately travelled to Kilifi police station where we confirmed the sad news,” she added.
The family is now looking for assistance after the County government informed them that it lacks divers, forcing them to engage local fishermen for the search job. It is now the fourth day of searching at the Kilifi Creek but the body has not yet been recovered.
The deceased arrived in Kilifi town from Malindi at around 5 a.m. on Thursday and boarded a boda boda headed towards the Mnarani area, but when she arrived at the middle of the bridge, she stopped the rider, quickly disembarked, and dove into the water there. This is according to an eye witness who claimed to have witnessed the incident on Thursday.
Because of the depth of the stream and the difficulty divers were having seeing one another, rescue and search efforts had been put on hold.
The deceased attempted to call for assistance after falling into the water and even tried to swim before she drowned, the witness claimed.
The deceased’s older brother, Teddy Kalume, claimed that the grief they were feeling was unbearable and revealed that they had been forced to spend money to employ local divers and buy oxygen for them.
“We came here on Thursday and officers from the Kilifi Beach Safety Unit told us to wait for three days before they called us but we didn’t buy their ideas and so we hired some local fishermen to help us retrieve the body. The County government gave us a boat and fuel and said that it does not have professional divers. It is now the fourth day and we are still here,” he said.
He called on the County government of Kilifi to help them with whatever they can so that they can get the body of their sister to bury.