A woman in Kashani area fought for her life for three hours before she drowned on Monday morning in a 70-foot-deep pit latrine.
Residents said Kahonzi Katembo, 40, might have been saved had there been proper roads and rescuers with equipment could reach her.
She fell in after the floor collapsed as she was using the latrine.
A neighbour's dogs alerted people of the accident. They were barking unusually and he went to see what was wrong.
Village elder Hamisi Ndegwa said, "That is when we saw her in the pit latrine. We tried to rescue her as she was still fighting for her life but we could not."
“She had woken up at 6am to relieve herself. But as soon as she walked in, the floor of the latrine caved in,” her younger sister Jumwa Katembo said.
Rescuers from the Mombasa County Fire Department were delayed by the poor road leading to the scene.
The fire brigade got stuck in mud during the heavy rains pounding Mombasa.
Mombasa county fire chief Swaleh Mwamlevi said the pit latrine was sub-standard.
New houses are being built in the area.
Most of the house owners are living in the Gulf countries and send money back to their relatives with instructions to build houses for them.
"The relatives want to use as little money as possible so they can eat the rest of the money. This means they use substandard materials,” resident John Bwire said.
Salim Mohamed, the Mombasa county fire department officer manning Nyali and Kisauni divisions, said the structure of the pit latrine was weak because it had no metal reinforcements.
“And with the current rains, the soil became weak and that is why it collapsed,” Mohamed said.
“There was the challenge of the road. We had to walk through the mud to retrieve the body,” he said.
Neighbour Kibibi Mitsanze said they have been complaining about the poor state of the roads, which become impassable in the rain.
“We blame our leaders,” Mitsanze said.
Kisauni police boss Julius Kiragu said residents typically build building houses and pit latrines using substandard materials to save money.
“This is something that the county government must look into,” Kiragu said.
The body was taken to the Coast General Hospital morgue.
Mwamlevi said the county will start inspecting houses and their pit latrines to determine their safety.
In May last year, a septic tank in Mshomroni also caved in, killing six people who were standing on it during a Swahili wedding at night.
