Three feared dead as racing boats capsizes in Mombasa

The finish line at The East Africa Ocean Festival in Mombasa / BRIAN OTIENO.

Three people are feared dead after the boat they were in capsized at the Tudor Creek near the Mombasa Waters Sports.

The three are from Bangladesh slums in Jomvu sub-county.

Some 22 people were on the boat, MV Dragon, taking part in a dragon boat race as part of The East African Ocean Festival activities to promote ocean activities and tourism.

The East African Ocean Festival is in its second edition this year after a similar one last October.

“We have asked for the full list of those who were aboard the boat when the incident happened. Some have been rescued while others are still missing,” Mombasa county lands executive Mohamed “Amadoh” Hussein, who is coordinating the rescue operation, said.

The Mombasa Fire and Rescue Services team was at the scene trying to find the missing three people after 19 were rescued.

A swimmer at the The East Africa Ocean Festival in Mombasa / BRIAN OTIENO.

Amadoh said they have enlisted the help of the Kenya Coast Guard to try and find the three missing people.

The incident happened at around 5.30 pm.

Ibrahim Basafar, the Mombasa county chief fire officer and disaster coordinator, said the festival started on Thursday with a gala dinner at the Fort Jesus.

The water sports started on Friday and were to go until Sunday.

Authorities are mulling over cancelling the whole festival altogether.

He said multiple agencies are now taking part in rescue efforts.

These include the Kenya Navy, the Kenya Coast Guard Services, and Tudor Water Sports divers.

“We rescued 19 people, but one was in critical condition and was rushed to the hospital,” Basafar said.

Two were so traumatized and were given experts for psychosocial support.

“They are undergoing trauma management,” Basafar said.

GSU, Kenya police, county officials, and other volunteer divers were coordinating the rescue efforts.

Basafar, however, lamented the conduct of the youth and bystanders at the scene who got agitated and started pelting the county staff with pebbles.

“It saddened us. By the time we were doing first aid and trauma on the rescued victims, the youth who were participating in the event started throwing stones at us,” the chief fire officer said.

By that time, the rescued victim, who was in critical condition, was being fitted with oxygen masks for oxygen support.

The ambulance was pelted.

A participant seeks medical attention at The East Africa Ocean Festival in Mombasa / BRIAN OTIENO

Basafar said the ambulance at the scene was the ICU capacity one.

“It is a very expensive one, and in Mombasa,  there are only about three of them. Destroying such a facility is not wise,” he said.

“We are first responders, and such incidents demoralize us. This event is a private one. We are only providing support because it is happening in our county,” Basafar said.

“We are not responsible for the accident. We only came to rescue people from drowning. Why should we fall victim to stone throwing?” Basafar said.

The ambulance was rendered immobile, and the county staff had to call for another ambulance to take the survivor, who was in critical condition, to the hospital.

“What if something happened to the rescued survivor? Who would have been blamed? Who would have gone at a loss? Let’s be reasonable and responsible, please,” Basafar pleaded.

He noted it is not right to remove someone from an oxygen support machine to another vehicle, especially when in critical condition.

Such an incident could easily lead to death, he explained.

Ishmael Onyango, one of the participants of the dragon boat race, on the ill-fated boat, said they received an invitation to participate and had been training at the Tudor Water Sports.

“We trained on Monday and Tuesday and rested on Wednesday and Thursday. Today was the race day,” Onyango said.

He said the first round was without incident.

“We were given 10 minutes to rest and come back as the best losers. We were in the race as the best losers, and I don’t know what happened. We just saw the boat capsize,” Onyango said.

He said the ill-fated boat was a short distance from the last buoy.

“I felt one of us try to hold on to me, and I had to escape. I swam hard, fearing for my life. Then I saw an orange boat come to save us,” he said.

He said he saw one of the boat racers struggle to swim.

The rope that was thrown at him kept on missing.

“We tried to turn the capsized boat twice. After the second time, I saw people give up. I think they were tired,” Onyango said.

The orange rescue boat had only one buoy/ floater.

The ill-fated boat was near the finish line.

Onyango said frustration got the better of the participants, and they started pelting the rescuers with stones.

“I think the situation could have been handled better,” he said.

He said while training, they had life jackets, but on Friday, during the race day, the life jackets were few, meaning some had no life jackets.

“Only one team that I saw had life jackets. We leave all to God,” Onyango said.

Victor Odongo, from Bangladesh, demanded to know the safety measures that had been put in place.

“Our people were taken from Bangladesh to come and die in Tudor? We will not accept that,” an agitated Odongo said.

Richard Odero accused the race organizers of failing to put in place safety measures.

He said one of the missing people had no swimming skills.