Shock as Homa Bay family picks wrong body for burial
A family in Pap Taya village in Ndhiwa Sub County was on Friday forced to postpone the burial of Elsa Awuor Otolo, 94, after they collected the wrong body.
A family in Pap Taya village in Ndhiwa Sub County was on Friday forced to postpone the burial of its 94-year-old kin after collecting a wrong body from the mortuary.
Ms Elsa Awuor Otolo died two weeks ago before her body was taken to a private mortuary in Migori County
It emerged that the body had been picked by a different family and buried at Kodoyo Junction in Homa Bay Town.
Ms Javelince Otieno told Nation.Africa mourners were forced to go back to their homes after the family realised that a different family had collected the body of their grandmother and buried it a week ago.
Ms Otieno said they learnt that something was amiss when they went to pick the body of their kin for burial.
"The body language of mortuary attendants showed that something was amiss," she said.
The family was, however, allegedly convinced by the mortuary management that the body presented to them was that of Ms Otolo.
Mrs Otolo's family realised that the body they were shown at the mortuary on Thursday was not their kin’s.
"We collected the body and drove to Ndhiwa only for those who were close to the deceased to alert other mourners that we had picked the wrong body," Ms Otieno said.
At the mortuary, the family was told that there could have been some confusion on the name tags since Ms Otolo shared a name with another deceased person from Homa Bay sub-county.
"We were informed that grandmother’s body could have been collected and had already been buried in Junction Kodoyo in Homa Bay Town," she said.
Kobita Sub-Location Assistant Chief Joash Osuju said the family and friends of the deceased were in consultation with the mortuary management on a possible exhumation of their kin’s body for burial at her home.
