Mr Paul Njoroge, the victim of Ethiopian Airlines plane crash victim said he would only hold a prayer mass for his family while awaiting DNA results, adding that his faith would not allow him bury soil collected from the crash scene.
Mr Njoroge lost his wife, three children and mother-in-law in the incident.
He said he had chosen to accept his loss so that he can release friends and relatives to continue with their lives.
“The six months the government has requested so that it can receive results of the DNA analysis on the 5,000 pieces of human bodies collected from the scene is too long, and so we will just hold a prayer mass and wait for DNA results,” Mr Njoroge said, adding that he would have bouquets of flowers but there would be no casket.
Mr Njoroge, a Seventh Day Adventist, said he would not bury the soil they collected from Bishoftu, 60 kilometres south of Addis Ababa, where authorities had taken them to.
Last week, families of victims drawn from 32 countries spent days at Skylight Hotel in Addis Ababa where they were updated on the state of the remains of the bodies after the Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane crashed two weeks ago.
“This is a big loss for me. It is too painful, but I guess there is nothing much I can do other than accept it and let people continue with their lives,” he said at his father-in-law Quindos Karanja’s home in Kabatini, Nakuru County.
Caroline Nduta Karanja died alongside her mother, Mrs Ann Wangui Karanja, and her three sons in the Ethiopian Airlines flight crash at Bishoftu, formerly known as Debre-Zeit.
Mr Karanja, who also lost his wife Anne Wangui, said during Wednesday’s prayers that family and friends would converge at the St Michael Parish Church on March 29 for a requiem mass.