Efforts to salvage the body of an 11-year-old boy who drowned in the Sigor dam while swimming with a group of other children have faced challenges arising from harsh weather conditions and the swampy nature of the dam.
Speaking to Kenya News Agency, Bomet County Director of Disaster Management Stanley Mutai confirmed that a multi-agency team from the county, Red Cross, and local divers have been camping at the scene for the past four days since the incident was reported.
Mutai said that the dam is almost five acres with what he termed as frustrating weather conditions that have made it hard to carry out the rescue operation effectively.
“Different stakeholders have pulled together resources in this operation. For the last four days our divers have tried their best to retrieve the body of this young boy but in vain. The weather is frustrating us, we have been experiencing rain as early as before noon,” explained Mutai.
“The nature of the dam has also been another issue, it’s porous and covered with a swampy vegetation that is twenty centimeters thick. We have been forced to clear the scene, we don’t want to endanger our divers.”
Mutai noted that this is the hardest and riskiest rescue operation he has ever encountered at his helm as the County Director of Disaster.
Boy drawn while diving
Reports indicate that the victim was diving with a group of six other children in the dam when the unfortunate incident happened on Sunday, March 12.
They rushed and reported that one of them has failed to re-emerge from the other side of the dam, and rescue operations commenced immediately.
Sigor residents have urged local authorities to condone off the dam from the public to avoid more cases of losing lives in the area.
