Search on for guns in Lake Victoria after bodies of police officers recovered
A boat transports goods in Lake Victoria on February 24, 2022.
Following the recovery of the bodies of two police officers and a Kenya Revenue Authority employee, who went missing last week after their boat capsized in Lake Victoria, security officers and divers have now shifted their focus in finding their missing guns.
The bodies were found on Sunday evening by local and government divers who had joined the search operations.
Sergeant Anderson Wendot, PC Onesmus Githinji and Captain Joseph Jillo were in company of five other officers from the marine police, Kenya Revenue Authority, and the National Police Service on Thursday evening when the accident occurred.
Migori County Police Commander Mark Wanjala said the search party was yet to recover three AK47 rifles and 30 rounds of ammunition which had been assigned to the officers.
“The three bodies … have since been moved to Avenue Hospital morgue, Kisumu. We are, however, carrying on with the search for missing rifles,” said Mr Wanjala.
He said the night accident occurred when the eight officers were on patrol in Lake Victoria’s Muhuru Bay, Migori County.
The boat capsized five minutes after it set off, 200 metres from the beach.
According to witnesses, the accident was caused by bad weather, with night storms, which had also affected a number of fishermen.
“There was a storm, which caused commotion on the lake, leading to the boat to capsize,” said the Kibro Beach Management Unit chairman, Mr Joel Maulidi.
Mr Maulidi said that several fishermen had been affected, with a number of boats destroyed in the storm.
The chairman said that they noticed the boat capsizing and alerted other fishermen on the shores to help but they could only rescue the five officers.
“We were on our way from a fishing expedition when we noticed the boat capsizing, together with other fishermen, we tried to save the occupants of the boat but the three went missing,” he said.
The county commander said that the matter was reported through a phone call by one of the survivors, Mr Omar Omar at midnight and had immediately embarked on search for the missing bodies.
The police boss said a survivor reported that the eight had set off at 12.15am.
“The boat capsized at 0020hrs, those successfully rescued are Sergeant Athman Mohamed, Corporal Erick Ogutu, APC David Omollo, Mr Clifford Owino and Omar Omar,” said Mr Wanjala.
