Two bodies have been confirmed to be in a septic tank that collapsed in Nyali, Mombasa.
Mombasa County chief fire officer Ibrahim Basafar said they had confirmed there are only two bodies in the septic tank that caved in Sunday evening at Bamburi’s Mwisho area of Kadzandani ward, Nyali subcounty.
Preliminary reports Sunday evening had indicated that there were about four people who fell into the 120 feet septic tank.
The tank was old, built more than 40 years ago.
“We have since confirmed that the bodies in the septic tank are two after one of those thought to have sunk was seen eating beans at a neighbouring eatery and he is the one who confirmed to us that only two sunk into the pit,” Basafar said.
A team of rescuers camped the area to plan how to empty the septic tank to reach the site where the bodies are.
One of two victims was identified as Abdulaziz Abdallah.
They had gone to watch English Premier League matches at a video café that was built on top of the septic tank.
Basafar said the owner of the video café did not know that there was a septic tank beneath the café because the septic tank was built so long ago that there have been at least three different buyers of the land over the last four decades.
Efforts to retrieve the bodies began at around midnight Sunday by the drainage of the sewage from the septic tank that took about seven hours to Monday around 7.15am.
Basafar said efforts to retrieve the bodies will take about six hours once all the machineries needed are in place.
These include a shovel, culverts, lights, oxygen equipment, among others, he said.
Basafar said they could not send their officers into the septic tank without proper protective gear.
“We cannot just send someone inside because there is a lot of methane,” Basafar said.
Methane causes lack of oxygen and can damage the lungs.
A sewage exhauster from the Mombasa county water department was used to drain the sewage from the septic tank.
The county government has also ordered for culverts which will be used by rescue officers inside the septic tank when retrieving the bodies.
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