• Divers have always been called upon to help in rescue missions.
• They say the government has failed to recognise them, though they have won national and internatonal awards ...but they don't cmplain, it's their calling.
When the Sunday ferry accident occurred, sending a mother and daughter to their deaths, Moses Owaga was at his Shelly, Likoni, home relaxing with his family.
Not far off was a distressed caller who phoned at about 6.50pm and alerted him about a car that had slid off a ferry into the Indian Ocean — with its two occupants.
The tall 53-year-old tall volunteer driver with one golden tooth wore a sad face, sad because it was one of the many calls he receives when there's an underwater crisis. Some, not all missions are successful.
Owaga's is a case of a prophet without honour in his home country. With numerous international and local awards to his name, he feels he has been let down.
Years ago he left his job as a seafarer to save lives. And he has saved many people from drowning and retrieved wreckage. He was diving at the site of the Nakuru plane crash that claimed five lives.
Today the father of four survives on menial jobs.
“I do this out of passion. No one can pay my team and me enough for the risks we take. I started swimming when I was 10 years old. "
The Mtongwe Ferry disaster of April 29, 1994, in which 271 people died, triggered the formation of his volunteer group, the Kenya Rescue Divers.
I do this out of passion. No one can pay my team and me enough for the risks we take.Volunteer driver Moses Owaga
The Sonko Rescue Team contracted Owago and his colleagues, for the Likoni Ferry search and rescue mission. Miriam Kighenda, 35 and her daughter Amanda Mutheu, four, were inside their car when it slipped from the ferry that lacked safety restraints.
It is believed to have sunk in 60 to 80 metres of water.
Since the tragedy, Owaga has been using his own boat and his own fuel to sustain the operation.
Also involved in the search are the Kenya Marine and Fisheries (Kemfri), Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Maritime, Kenya Ferry Services and the Kenya Navy, which mapped the seabed.
Kenya Navy divers also helped.
Some volunter divers reporteldy refused to take part because they have not been paid for past services.
However, at exactly 11.40am, Owaga's team was armed with their diving tanks, buoyancy control devices, weight belts, regulators, face mask, snorkels, fins, wetsuits and ropes with deadweights.
They set out to sea in hopes of success but knowing 'success' would mean finding the car and the victims.
“We trust God will help us locate the vehicle and retrieve it. It is dangerous, but this is our calling,” he said as his team tied ropes 75m long, and attached dead weights.
A day after the accident, the family of the victims had contacted him.
He and his team arrived at the Likoni Channel as ferry users, emergency services and the public cheered them on an prayed, hope against hope.
On Monday by 2pm, the team had made several dives. Minutes apart, a pair of divers would go down as their ropes hit the seabed.
On their small boat, a navy blue and white flag had been hoisted, indicating the presence of divers in the area.
Their tiny boat frequently came across those from Kemfri, KPA, the Navy and KFS as they cruised the wild waters.
Half of his team are over age 50. the rest, including the only female divemaster in Kenya, Susan Mtakai, were between 25 abnd-35 years.
Owaga's wife Maureen is also in the diving squad but was away and was to join them later.
Among Owga's notable accolades was HRH Prince Michael of Kent 125th anniversry certificate of merit for recognition of exemplary service to society. He receied it in 2016 frm Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace.
He ralso received the Roya Livesaving Society Comonwealth Councl medal.
In 2009, Owaga received the Silver Star medal from former President Mwai Kibaki. In 2010, the International Life Saving Federation awarded him the International Rescue Medal.
In 2010, Owaga rescued the driver of a trailer carrying maize flour, which plunged intothe Likoni channel.
We trust God will help us locate the vehicle and retrieve it. It is dangerous, but this is our calling.Moses Owaga
“The Coast Guard was deployed but we are here. I have trained on a voluntary basis with the Navy and KWS divers too,” he said.
“I have a very small boat, my team and I can’t even afford a vehicle to transport our equipment when we are needed,” he said, accompanied by Captain Yusuf Mohammed, a one-time seafarer turned diver.
Owaga recalls that in 2010, when the government called him while he was a seaman in Egypt, he left his new job and returned home to receive his award for outstanding work.
“I was expecting to be given a job but was only issued with a certificate and a trophy yet I have four kids to feed and educate. My firstborn is now in Form 3 while the lastborn is in Grade 3," he said.
The diving hero also received global recognition as a qualified international diver and to cap it all, three international medals in Europe and Saudi Arabia.
In 2009, he was awarded an Indian Ocean International bronze medal and an International Maritime World medal in 2013.
He says it is inhumane to charge grieving families for his rescue work.
Owaga makes money once in a blue moon with jobs like pulling out vehicles that have sunk in the ocean, welding ships that have holes and cleaning up.
(Edited by V. Graham)