Five relatives who perished on Christmas Day to be buried Friday
An obituary of the five that ran in the Daily Nation on Tuesday.
Burial preparations are ongoing for five members of a family from Kisii County who perished in a road accident on Christmas Day.
Mr Ronald Bundi Mauncho, his wife and three daughters died in the grisly crash 12 days ago.
Mr Bundi, his wife Veronica Ogake, daughters Natalia Kemunto and Claire Kwamboka were killed in the accident in the Engwata area of Mackinnon, near Voi, on their way home from Mombasa to Kisii.
Mr Bundi's eldest daughter Marion Moraa died a week later while receiving treatment at Coast General Hospital.
She had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit with deep head cuts.
Bundi's two sons, who suffered broken legs, are recuperating at Coast General Hospital.
“We are glad that they are recovering. Their legs have been fixed and they are responding well to treatment,” said Mr Casmir Nyabuto, Mr Bundi’s elder brother.
When we visited the family’s home in Itumbe, Kisii County, on Tuesday, burial preparations were underway.
The five will be buried in one grave on Friday. The main grave has been dug. It will be partitioned into five sections to accommodate the bodies.
“A requiem mass will be conducted on Wednesday at St Francis of Assisi Customs Parish, Nyali. The bodies will leave Jocham Hospital Funeral Home on Thursday for Kisii for an overnight stay,” Mr Nyabuto said.
Burial preparations for Mr Ronald Bundi Mauncho who together with his wife and three daughters perished in a road accident on December 25, 2021.
“A burial service will be held at Queens of Apostles Parish Church in Itumbe on Friday, thereafter, their remains will be interred at our family home, which is near the church.”
Big blow
He explained that the bodies will be flown from Mombasa to Kisumu because it is cheaper.
“It costs around Sh25,000 to transport each of the five bodies. Our main challenge is hiring five hearses from Kisumu to Kisii. It costs more than Sh20,000 for one hearse,” said Mr Nyabuto, who called on the county government leadership to help.
Mr Nyabuto explained that Mr Bundi’s death was a big blow to their family because he was their breadwinner.
“We are four brothers. He is our lastborn. He was the one who took us to Mombasa. We used to work under him in his engineering company. I travelled home earlier than them and it is very sad that they are no more,” he said.
He explained that his brother’s vehicle was involved in a head-on collision with another private vehicle.
The five will be buried in one grave on Friday. The main grave has been dug. It will be partitioned into five sections to accommodate the bodies.
“He had tried to overtake, but due to the nature of the road, which is narrow and usually foggy during the morning hours and congested with trailers, he could not find an escape route when he saw an oncoming vehicle and hit it head-on,” he said of the 4am crash.
“The other vehicle burst into flames. Its driver and two other occupants were burned to ashes.”
Mr Nyabuto’s mother Yuventina Moraa Mauncho is yet to come to terms with the death of her lastborn son and most of his family in a road accident on a day they were supposed to be celebrating the birth of Christ.
Marion, Mr Bundi’s firstborn daughter, was set to sit her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam in March.
She was a student at Star of the Sea High School in Mombasa.
Natalia was a Standard Seven pupil at Loreto Convent Mombasa, while Claire, the lastborn, was a pupil at SOS Hermann Gmeiner Primary School in Mombasa.
