Homa Bay boat tragedy: Death toll rises to six after body of a minor is retrieved

Four bodies, among them that of a minor, were on Wednesday retrieved after a boat capsized in Lake Victoria near Pier Beach in Homa Bay.

This now brings the death toll from the tragedy to six, after two more people were on Tuesday evening confirmed dead.

The search mission for bodies of the other remaining passengers who perished in the boat accident is still underway.

19 passengers were on board from Homa Bay Pier Beach to Ndhuru Beach in Suba North constituency before the boat capsized just about 400 meters from the landing site.

The bodies of a woman and an infant were Tuesday evening retrieved while eight passengers were rescued and hospitalized at the County Referral facility where they are still undergoing treatment.

Homa Bay County Commissioner Moses Lilan said they have established a temporary command centre at the beach consisting a multi-agency team from the Kenya Maritime Authority, Kenya Coast Guard Services, Beach Management Units as well as the County Government Department of Disaster.

Mr. Lilan said the boat was overloaded with passengers and luggage like bags of cement, timber, pieces of iron sheets and food stuff beyond its recommended capacity, which might have caused the accident.

The boat coxswain Felix Ouma, who survived the unfortunate incident, pointed out bad weather and water hyacinth as main factors leading to the accident.