Retrieving the dead: Meet diver who turned hobby into career

Murathi Magochi started swimming in the dangerous Mathioya river as a boy for fun.

He did not know that his fun expeditions would later turn him into a professional diver and rescuer.

Murathi, 34, grew up in St Mary village next to Murang’a town and would go swimming every spare minute he got.

In the village, boys would start venturing into Mathioya river as early as six years old. By the time Murathi was 10, he had lost three of his friends to drowning.

By then, his swimming prowess had grown and he started venturing into a dam constructed near his village by Kengen for power production.

The dam has a tunnel that channels the water kilometres away to Wanjii power station. It passes under Murang’a town.

A section of the tunnel is about nine feet deep. This was one of the sections of the river that Murathi and his peers would go swimming.

When it rained, the boys would steal maize stalks from the farms neighbouring the river and make canoe-like structures that they used to float kilometres downstream to Murang’a town near Posta offices.

“During the dry seasons, we would drop mangoes to the bottom of the tunnel and then compete to fetch them. That was an extremely dangerous venture not only for us boys but also for the adults,” he said.

The death of friends did not keep the boys off the river, which is infamous for the many lives it has claimed over the years.

It wasn't until 2012 when a boy visiting his village drowned in the same river that Murathi decided to take the swimming skills he had acquired more seriously.

The boy had accompanied his cousin to the river and the two decided to go swimming at the Kengen dam.

The cousin, a good swimmer, crossed over the small dam with ease but the visiting boy drowned.

“When we arrived at the scene, locals were frantically searching for him and I decided to help but dusk soon fell and we still could not find him. The cousin had fled and could not pinpoint where he had drowned.”

“One of the rescuers saw the body at the bottom of the dam and panicked, and started drowning. We had to save him first before recovering the boy's body,” Murathi, a father of two, said.

After that experience, Murathi registered a company offering rescue services for drowning victims. He undertook a two-year course on disaster management. 

By then, the county government had a disaster management department but lacked experienced divers.

“A disaster management team should be trained on conducting rescues in both stagnant and fast waters,” he said.

Murathi now has a team of six professional divers.

In training, divers are taught to use their bodies to propel themselves inside the water because some of the water bodies may be dangerous and with rocks and tree stumps.

This is different from the normal diving in swimming pools where swimmers jump from a higher point.

After completing the course, Murathi and his team were called to Embu county where they helped recover the bodies of two children from river Rupingazi.

The experience is one of the most memorable for him as his team had to search the fast flowing river for about eight kilometres before they could recover the bodies.

The team has since helped recover over 20 drowning victims.

They are the go-to team during drowning incidences in Murang’a and the surrounding counties.

They charge up to Sh80,000 for their services, depending on the complexity of the mission.

Just two months ago, Murathi was contracted by Michuki Technical Training Institute to recover the bodies of two students who fell into Mathioya river while having fun along the banks.

The team was contacted after local divers tried to search for the students for days without success.

Students who witnessed the incident said the two were taking selfies with their mobile phones when they slipped into the river and drowned.

His team arrived at the scene armed with oxygen masks and their diving attire and before long, they found the two lovers.

Murathi said the students were on a serene part of the river just above a waterfall.

The male student jumped onto the rocks dotting the river and waited for the girl who was in a skirt to follow suit.

But the girl could not make the jump as the skirt caused her to trip and fall into the fast moving water. She held onto a rock and the male student tried to rescue her.

“The boy wanted to pull the girl out but both fell into the water fall,” he said.

Murathi said in some instances, they encounter snakes and crocodiles and have to manoeuvre to get to the bodies.

He cited an example of a matatu that veered off the road in Githurai, Kiambu, and fell into a deep pond a few years ago. One of his divers went into the water and found that it was full of snakes.

“As a rule, you cannot come back up from the water and say you found snakes because you can cause members of the public to panic. You only send signals to other divers on where you spotted the victims and indicate that there is the danger of wild animals,” Murathi said.

“Sighting animals does not stop us from recovering the bodies because we have to complete our mission.” 

Once a body is spotted, a diver is required to come up and signal to the others so that members of the public can be cleared from the scene.

This is because many people cannot stand the sight of a body, especially if it has been in water for days. Another diver is then sent in to fetch the body.

Also, most of the bodies are found naked as the clothes are ripped off by the force of the water.

Diving requires courage, he said, especially since objects appear magnified when underwater.

Sometimes, divers get into the water with a rope in hand in case the water is too deep and when out of breath, they shake the ropes several times so they can be pulled up.

“Other divers hold the rope outside the water but the rope should never be tied around a diver’s waist as it can get stuck in rocks and tree stumps and drown him,” he explained.

Once a drowning incident is reported, Murathi said they advise families to contact the county government to help in facilitating the recovery mission.

He then gets to the scene to assess how many divers and facilities are needed. As the team leader, he decides where each diver searches.

The divers are expected to dive all the way to the bottom of the water and be honest when they get worn out to ensure no spot is left unsearched.

Their services, he said, end after the bodies are recovered.

Murathi cautioned Murang’a residents against swimming in rivers to avert drowning. He said people should also not get into swimming pools alone.

Murathi advised against attempting to save someone who falls into a river, saying the panicked victim ends up drowning the rescuer.

“The person who is drowning is panicked and mostly tries to use the rescuer to save themselves. This often causes both of them to drown. Most of the people who drown in twos are found entangled because they die trying to use each other to float,” he said.

At 89kg, the five-foot four-inches tall man is a bit overweight for the profession but that does not hamper diving. His ideal weight is about 70kg.

He swims twice every week, this time in swimming pools.

Murathi, a businessman, told the Star that diving is a passion and he feels unexplainable satisfaction once a body is recovered.

But his passion is a source of misery for his wife, who suffers a heartbreak every time he is called to a drowning scene.

“She calls me countless times and gets frustrated because most river banks do not have a strong mobile phone network,” he said.