Rescuers have retrieved the body of a police officer who was swept away by floodwaters on Sunday, March 24.
Nairobi flooding
Heavy rains that pounded Nairobi and its environs from the night of Sunday, March 24, to the morning of Monday, March 25, killed at least four people and displaced many others.
The officer, David Chesire, was among three officers who responded to a distress call about three women and a child stuck in their stalls at Country Bus Station in Muthurwa.
Nairobi regional police commander Adamson Bungei confirmed that Chesire and his colleagues had successfully rescued the Kenyans and had returned to help lock the stalls from which they had been rescued.
Nairobi police officer swept away by floods
The three women and the child were trapped in the stalls because raging flood waters had significantly washed away the slab connecting the business structures with the pedestrian walk.
Bungei explained that Chesire was swept away by water after water washed away the remaining bit of the concrete slab
His colleagues’ efforts to rescue him were futile as he was swept into the deep, open drainage canal in the 10pm incident.
The rescue efforts continued the following morning, Monday, March 25, through the day with little progress.
Nairobi police rescue efforts
The slow progress irritated area MP Amos Mwago, who said the national government and the county government had done too little to help retrieve the body of the heroic officer.
“A very unfortunate incident happened yesterday at 10 p.m. where a police officer named David Chesire from Kamukunji Police Station drowned while trying to rescue five people at the country bus terminal.
“It’s a shame that since morning, we have received zero efforts from government agencies and county government, and we are forced to use local boys for assistance to trace the body instead of professional divers and accident handlers. If this happens to a government police officer, how about a normal citizen?” Posed Mwago on his Facebook page.
The rescue exercise finally bore fruit on the morning of Tuesday, March 26, when a team of rescuers and locals worked hand in hand to retrieve the body of the officer.
