Family storms Nairobi funeral home after collecting empty casket, handed body later

At the Nairobi Funeral Home, chaos erupted as the exercise got underway, with some families still searching for missing relatives.

The death toll from the floods in Nairobi alone has now risen to 32, following the discovery and recovery of two more bodies. 

Grief turning into anger was palpable at the Nairobi funeral home, where the bulk of the bodies of victims of last Friday’s floods are preserved. On Thursday, some families were picking up their loved ones for their final rites.

Among them was the family of the late Nicholas Kyallo Makonge. Overwhelmed by emotion, they stormed the funeral home, hoisted a casket and carried it to the viewing bay, only to discover, to their shock, that his body was not inside.

Undeterred, they stormed back into the mortuary and were eventually handed his remains, which they quickly transported for burial. They were not the only ones who visited the funeral home.

For some, the visit confirmed their worst fears that their kin, a boda boda rider in the city who had been missing since Friday, had indeed perished in the flash floods.

"Ni mshtuko tumepata, sababu tuko watatu kwa mama yetu, sasa yeye ndio amekuwa kijana tumeangalia zaidi, tumeona kama jicho letu, kama msaada wetu, ametumaliza, tumeisha," Carmen Atsenga, sister of the deceased, stated.

At least six families are still searching for their missing kin. Among them is Naomi Mutinda. She is looking for her four-year-old son, last seen on Friday night when she was marooned with the baby in her compound in Nairobi’s Kware area of Pipeline as water rose around them.

As the search for the missing continues and the collection of bodies identified so far goes on, arrangements for the burial of those who perished in Nairobi, now numbering 32, are underway.

Further, the Sonko Rescue Team delivered more caskets at the funeral home, as families of the deceased and human rights activists criticised the government for failing to honour its pledge to help the victims’ families.

"We have heard promises being made especially by the national government, that they would support the families, that they would pay the bills. Many families that are here have been told to pay," Human Rights activist Khalid Hussein stated.

The government was, however, distributing relief food to survivors of the floods in Nairobi’s Mathare area earlier in the day.