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Thika subcounty DCIO Thuvi said they were treating the matter as a normal accident at a place of work.
- Some of Otieno’s colleagues said, though the bizarre incident was the first, serious injuries at the facility are common.
Image: JOHN KAMAU
Caleb Otieno was always paired with a colleague with whom he took shifts for lunch.
Last Friday, he handed his colleague Sh50 to bring him lunch at the factory. However, when the colleague came back with the lunch, Otieno was no more.
He had ordered ugali with vegetables, boiled green grams and beans.
Otieno was tasked with feeding metal pieces through a rolling mill into a blazing furnace.
While he threw some of the pieces in, his gloves got stuck on the metals, making the mills to pull him onto the unforgiving machine that crushed him into pieces before dropping him into the furnace.
His arms and head were the first to be crushed. Then his liquefied body got mixed up with the melted steel, leaving only countable bone particles at its base.
The horrific incident left a trail of fear and sadness among his colleagues, with his workmates lost on what to do, including with his food.
Otieno, 34, hails from Kogony in Kisumu. He came to the city after finishing his Form 4 studies at Kisumu Day High School some 10 years ago.
He started off working as a casual labourer at Bidco Africa before an opportunity came knocking at the Blue Nile Rolling Mills Company, where he worked for seven years till his tragic death.
The Thika subcounty DCIO Joseph Thuvi told the Star they visited the facility on Sunday and collected ashes and particles that seemed like pieces of bones from the furnace.
Thuvi said they were treating the matter as a normal accident at a place of work.
The company's directors and the human resource officer visited the DCI office on Monday and Tuesday morning as part of the probe.
Otieno's ashes are preserved at the General Kago Funeral Home awaiting postmortem examination.
"We will do the postmortem when the family is ready and when they want to conduct the burial. I am waiting for them to tell me," he said.
According to Rose Nyambura who runs a kibanda food business at the gate of the factory, the man was a jovial and regular customer who always kept his word.
Nyambura said whenever Otieno took food on credit, he always paid as promised.
Some of Otieno’s colleagues who spoke to the Star in confidence said, though the bizarre incident was the first, serious injuries at the facility are common, putting into question the factory’s safety standards.
The claims by the workmates was confirmed by the food vendors stationed at the establishment's gate.
"It is a frequent complaint among them [the workers]. I know because they eat here," Nyambura said.
Multiple attempts by the Star to get the factory's management to comment on the allegations or shed light on the circumstances of the incidents failed and security agents at the gate were instructed not to allow access.
They also declined to speak about the matter on call.
(edited by Amol Awuor)