• Government spokesman Cyrus Oguna took a swipe at Swedish scuba diver who said he could
Image: JOHN CHESOLI
The vehicle carrying a mother and daughter who drowned in the Indian Ocean may have been traced, Government spokesman Cyrus Oguna has announced.
He, however, said the government is yet to confirm whether the number plate of the vehicle traced corresponds with that which was carrying Mariam Kighenda, 35, and Amanda Mutheu, 4.
Oguna went on to say he cannot confirm yet, whether the bodies are in the vehicle.
Divers sighted the car-like object sitting 58 metres deep at the sea bed of the Likoni crossing channel at 2pm.
Oguna said the operation is 90 per cent complete.
“What is remaning is about 10 per cent. We need to confirm the number plate of that vehicle to ascertain if indeed it is the one that sunk into the channel on September 29,” he said.
Family spokesperson Luka Mbati said they will not comment until they see the bodies.
"Yes we do have hope, but we won't talk until we see the bodies," Mbati said.
Oguna on Wednesday took a swipe at the Swedish scuba diver who had initially said he could recover the bodies in two hours.
"There are people who came, acting as if they could recover the bodies, but they were unsuccessful and went," he said.
Scuba diver Volker Bassen later retracted his statement, saying he had underestimated the conditions.
He later praised the navy for its efforts, saying they were doing a good job.
Oguna said, "We have made all efforts to search for the bodies and the car."
The Kenya Navy had on Tuesday evening announced the sighting of an unnatural disturbance in the seabed of the Indian Ocean following the deployment of new technology in the ongoing search for two bodies of a mother and daughter.
The head of the recovery operation, Col (Rtd) Lawrence Gituma, said the new technology had enabled them to narrow down the search for the bodies of Kighenda and Mutheu to a 300m radius out of the 1.2km radius search area earlier identified.
The five South Africans contracted by Mariam's family and the three contracted by the government made an extensive dive on Tuesday in four locations.
Mariam and Amanda perished on September 29 when their vehicle slid off the MV Harambee mid-stream and plunged into the ocean.