Family seeks answers as Form 3 student drowns during school trip

A swimming excursion planned for prefects and high-performing students from Karia Secondary School in Kirinyaga County turned tragic on Thursday after a Form Three student drowned during the outing.

Eric  Muconge, the deceased, was among 17 students taken to a nearby hotel for the trip by the school.

Confirming the incident, Central Sub-County Police Commander John Torori told Citizen Digital that the drowning incident occurred at around 4 pm.

First responders promptly rushed the high school student to a nearby hospital for medical attention but their efforts eventually proved futile.

''I could not believe Eric was no more as I was told the school management took the best performers and prefects to the hotel. Eric was a Form Three prefect," the deceased's mother, Hannah Wanjiru Muconge, told Citizen Digital.

The deceased's kin have since questioned the manner in which the whole incident transpired.

"We want to know what happened because we were shocked to see the lifeless body of Eric in a local private hospital though we expected his body at Kerugoya Hospital. We want to know why detectives have been told to meet at Kerugoya Police Station," Paul Wanyoike, Muconge's uncle, said.

The deceased's body has since been moved to Kerugoya County Referral Hospital awaiting post-mortem as investigations into the reported drowning continue. .' 

"We have launched investigations and we are telling the family to remain calm and anybody found guilty will be prosecuted," Torori said.