Not only did he lose his wife and sister in the Naivasha tragedy, Daniel Kamau is now grappling with a Sh204,400 bill for the four hours his wife spent at the Nairobi Hospital.
Clueless on what to do next and nursing pain from the loss of his wife,
Kamau is among the residents who camped at the Chiromo Mortuary yesterday to identify their relatives.
Kamau said his wife was taken to the hospital at 1am on Sunday. She died at 5am, a victim of the Naivasha tragedy that claimed 39 other lives.
He said he intended to transfer his wife’s body to the Kenyatta University Funeral Home but was required to deposit Sh50,000 to be allowed to collect the body before settling the entire bill.
The management allegedly reneged on this after he paid the deposit.
“I arrived in the morning and the cashiers told me that I must pay the deposit after which they would talk to their boss, who would determine whether I will get the body. The boss said a committee must agree and I was later told I must clear the bill,” he said at Chiromo Mortuary yesterday.
“I came here yesterday [Sunday] to talk to government officials to help me collect the body to stop accruing more debt, but no help came my way.” Kamau broke down during the interview with media as he explained how he attempted to save his mother, who is admitted at the Kenyatta National Hospital. There are no traces of his sister’s remains.
“I saw a ball of fire and started helping my mother unfasten her safety belt. But it happened so fast. The car exploded, throwing me out and leaving them inside,” Kamau said. He escaped unhurt.
Kamau narrated how he pulled his mother and wife out, but the fire engulfed his car while his sister was still trapped inside.
“The car was burned completely, and our sister is still missing,” he said.
They were travelling from a family function and Kamau was driving back to Nairobi with his mother, wife and sister.
Joseph Ngugi’s family is yet to come to terms with his death. Ngugi, a computer engineer, was driving from Nyahururu.
His wife, whom he wed on June 25, has not spoken since the tragedy and has rejected counselling.
She was seen at the Chiromo Mortuary being assisted to walk by relatives. Ngugi’s aunt Lucy Kiarie said the computer engineer’s client was expecting him in Nairobi.
They spoke before he left Nyahururu but his phone went off shortly before the accident.
“We later saw his burned car on the news,” Kiarie said.
Maricela Achieng, the sister of GSU officer Bernard Okungu, who was among the 11 GSU officers who perished in the tragedy, said by yesterday, her brother’s phone was still on.
State House had informed the family that all the 11 Recce Unit officers died. However, Okungu’s phone was still on although calls remained unanswered. The officer had two children.
A UK-based Kenyan lost two daughters and a son in the tragedy.
His brother John Mbegu said the UK man’s wife was travelling from Nyahururu to Nairobi after attending a family gathering when their car was rammed.
The wife escaped with her eldest daughter and they were treated at Avenue Hospital. “I was driving behind them. I am the one who pulled them out after the accident. The car got burned later,” Mbegu said.
Francis Muiruri was among the passengers in the Molo Line matatu who all perished. His cousin narrated how he left to go for a book he had left in Elburgon, Nakuru county.
Eight of his cousins were at Chiromo yesterday, including Samuel Ngugi.
“We meet as cousins every four months. We were coming from our last meeting but Muiruri said he had left the book which had minutes of the meeting. We left him behind and planned to meet in Ruiru,” Ngugi said.