Questions Arise on Safety of Passengers in Ferries

Questions Arise on Safety of Passengers in Ferries after Car Slides into Ocean

By Virginia Mwangi / Published September 30, 2019 | 7:41 am

A saloon car on Sunday, 29^th September 2019, plunged into the Indian Ocean at the busy Likoni channel killing all its occupants, an accident that has had Kenyans question the safety of the ferries at Mombasa.

The car which, according to police officers, was the last to get into the Mv Harambee from the mainland slid into the ocean.

The white saloon car is believed to have been carrying a woman, on the driver’s seat and a child believed to be a boy according to a witness who threw a lifesaver at them.

According to the Sub County Police Commander in Likoni, Benjamin Rotich, the white saloon car had four occupants with the woman sitting on the driver’s seat.

“The woman was the driver, the information we have indicates they were four,” Mr. Rotich said.

The Kenya Ferry Services Officials at the mainland are reported to have engaged in an altercation after the woman was stopped from accessing the ferry from a site known to be used by people with KFS special passes at the mainland while boarding.

KFS, through their social media platforms, reported that the car and its occupants were yet to be retrieved hours after the accident.

“Neither the car nor the occupants have been retrieved. We share our sincere sympathies to the affected as the salvage operations continue,” KFS post on its official Facebook page read.

The Obsessed Mobile Filming Kenyans

It is the circulating graphic videos of the Saloon car drowning that has caught the wrath of Kenyans who are questioning whether there was nothing that could have been done to save the life of the family that drowned other than Kenyans taking videos.

There is no effort seen to be put to rescue the car’s occupants as Kenyans watch horrified while others capture the heartbreaking moment to share on social media forgetting of the pain they would cause the families and friends of the victims.

It would be expected that after the County and National Government has experienced the possibility of vehicles plunging into the Indian Ocean, something would be done to ensure lives are not lost and that the ferries are safe but that is not the case.

On June 6^th, 2016, a car plunged into the Indian Ocean killing one person at the same Likoni Channel. According to witnesses, the car appeared to have developed a mechanical problem as the driver, a man, drove out of the MV Likoni ferry.

It was never clear how many people were in the car by the time it drowned, Kenya Navy reached the scene an hour later to retrieve a body, not save a life.

Below are some of the sentiments:

#LikoniFerry tragedy is heartbreaking. There should be at least two speed boats patrolling all ferry trips. The government will continue assuring Kenyans on its preparedness for disaster, but ground mambo ni tofauti
— zak kamau (@ZakaKamau) September 30, 2019

This is unacceptable for the accident that happen in the Indian Ocean. Don’t we have a Quick Response Marine Services? We watched the Car Sinking and Killing its occupants. @kenyaferry #LikoniFerry
pic.twitter.com/EgpTl33PlX
— Kawangware Finest™️ (@cbs_ke) September 30, 2019