Grief overwhelmed families at the Sultan Hammud Subcounty Hospital Mortuary in Makueni on Sunday as they arrived to collect the bodies of 17 Catholic pilgrims killed in a road accident along the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway.
The deceased were members of St. Matthias Mulumba Catholic Church in Mikindani, Mombasa, who had set out in faith for the National Prayer Day at the Subukia Shrine in Nakuru.
Their journey ended fatally at the Mima Kio area in Salama on Saturday, before they ever reached their destination.
A Sunday Service Turned Into a Vigil
Back in Mombasa, what was meant to be a joyful Thanksgiving service on Sunday, welcoming the pilgrims home with testimonies, instead became a sombre prayer gathering.
Fellow parishioners joined grieving relatives at the mortuary grounds in Makueni, offering what comfort they could in deeply painful circumstances.
Families camped at the mortuary from the early hours of Sunday morning, waiting for post-mortem examinations to be completed before they were permitted to receive the bodies.
A medical official who spoke at the site noted that most of the deceased had suffered multiple soft tissue injuries, bone fractures and head injuries, with cervical spine injuries listed among the primary causes of death.
Church representatives acknowledged the toll the tragedy had taken on those waiting.
“We also wish to commend our families that we travelled with for being patient and also being calm, staying calm in making sure all these processes have gone on well,” a church official said.
“We want to appreciate Mombasa County because they have said they will take care of the mortuary charges as well as the post-mortem charges.”
Bodies were subsequently transported to various counties, including Kisii, Machakos, Kitui, Karatina and Nairobi, for burial by individual families.
