30 bodies of Karai tragedy victims successfully identified

At least 30 bodies of the Karai tragedy that killed 41 people have been identified through DNA sampling at the Chiromo Mortuary and will now be released to the families for burial.

The December 10, 2016 accident at Karai area along the busy Nairobi – Nakuru Highway was caused by a mini-truck which rammed into several vehicles before bursting into flames which quickly spread to over 14 cars reducing them to shells.

According to Nathan Kigotho, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) chair, the 30 bodies will be released to the families starting Friday, December 23 at the Chiromo Mortuary Parlour.

“Nine bodies are yet to be identified since they were severely torn apart and it will take some time to match together the body pieces,” said Kigotho.

He said that the bodies of the General Service Unit (GSU) officers attached to the presidential escort would be taken to the Kenyatta University Mortuary where they will be released to the families from.

Kigotho said the government had already taken care of all the costs including those of the DNA testing process. In addition, each afflicted family will receive Ksh 50,000 from the government to help cater for the burial expenses.

The NDMA chair called on the families of the remaining bodies to submit their DNA samples of either the brother, sister or mother adding that it was difficult to identify the remaining nine bodies as they did not have the samples from their families.