Tragedy in Kirinyaga: Two Children Drown in Dam While Swimming and Fishing

By : Mweru Mbugua 

A sombre mood has gripped Kiandai Village in Mwerua Location, Ndia, Kirinyaga County, after two children drowned in a dam on Thursday evening

According to Mwerua Location Chief John Mwai, the victims 15-year-old Victor Mwangi, a Grade 7 pupil, and 10-year-old Ryan Njoroge, a Grade 4 pupil at Kiandangae Primary School  had gone swimming and fishing with friends when the tragedy occurred

Residents said the boys were part of a group of about ten children gathered at the dam

Locals Lilian Wambui and Mercy Kinyua recounted that they had advised the children to head home but later found divers searching the dam for the boys

Mercy Kinyua, who teaches Ryan in Grade 4, was seen weeping while holding the boy’s shoes

Ryan’s aunt, Faith Murimi, said she had already informed his mother, who works in Qatar

The incident has reignited calls to secure the dam, which was created over ten years ago during murram extraction by the former county government

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The fence around the dam was reportedly vandalized, with the wire sold to scrap metal dealers

Search efforts for the two bodies are ongoing, led by Chief Mwai and officers from Baricho Police Station

“We are studying the dam and predicting potential locations of the bodies with the help of divers,” Chief Mwai said