Mombasa, Kenya: Grief settled heavily over Mikindani as St. Matthias Mulumba Catholic Church became the gathering point for mourners paying their respects to 16 pilgrims who never made it home from the Subukia Shrine.
Relatives, friends and Catholic faithful filled the church for a joint memorial service, pausing in silence before photographs of the departed as they reckoned with a loss that has left an entire community shattered.
St. Matthias Mulumba Catholic Church Mourns
Archbishop Dominic Kimengich addressed the congregation, calling the accident a devastating blow to the church. He noted that those gathered had anticipated the pilgrims’ return, looking forward to hearing about the prayers and experiences from Subukia, making the finality of their deaths all the harder to bear.
“It is painful to lose someone close to you, a fellow community member, family member, child, brother, sister, father, mother, fiancé and so on,” one of the religious leaders told mourners.
“They leave us with the pain of death. The pain of the circumstances surrounding their deaths. The pain of never getting to see them again. But they leave us with the gain of heaven, which is our home.”
For one mourner, the loss was deeply personal.
“He was the father. I feel so sad about that, but there is nothing I can do,” they said, capturing the helplessness felt across many of the families present.
A leader who attended the service offered words of solidarity to the bereaved. “You are not alone. I came here to assure you that you are not alone in this difficult time,” they said.
Government Aid and Road Safety Calls
Beyond the grief, the memorial service drew attention to questions of road safety. Leaders present urged motorists to exercise greater caution, particularly those operating heavy vehicles transporting materials such as ballast and sand.
They called on the government to consider whether such vehicles could be directed onto alternative routes, away from roads frequented by the general public.
The government announced it had set aside KSh 12.5 million to support the families affected by the tragedy and committed to establishing a dedicated fund for longer-term assistance.
Some families have since appealed to the authorities to help with transporting their loved ones back to their home areas for burial, underlining the practical burdens that compound the emotional weight of such a loss.
