As the country is preparing to celebrate Christmas festival, Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) is mourning the sudden death of their colleague who perished trying to rescue his two sons who had drowned in a quarry at the army barracks in Makongeni, Thika .
The bodies of KDF Sergeant James Meme Kobia and his sons were retrieved on Wednesday morning after drowning in a quarry filled with rainwater at the barracks’ grounds.
Reports from Makongeni Police Ward indicate that the unfortunate incident happened at about 5 p.m on Tuesday.
According to the account of Corporal Stephen Meleji, a military police at Thika Barracks, the two boys, Joseph Githinji aged about 11 years and his brother, Vincent Muchui aged about 7 years, were swimming in a murram excavation in Makongeni Landless area.
“The two slid into the quarry believed to be 30-feet deep,” a statement from the police indicated.
“Their 40-year-old father, Sergeant Kobia, who is a member of 12 Engineers Thika Barracks, immediately embarked on rescuing his sons.
“After discovering the incident, he took a tyre and jumped into the pool aiming to rescue the two boys,” the report indicated.
Unfortunately, the three drowned in the quarry and their bodies submerged in the pool.
The bodies were later retrieved by a Disaster Response Unit team from KDF headquarters in Nairobi.
Not so long a 14 seater matatu plunged into the Clay City quarry dam at around 7:30 p.m killing several passengers including the driver after drowning.