Two sisters buried alive in Kericho County

Two sisters were buried alive on Wednesday evening when a quarry they were excavating clay soil from collapsed at Chepkongony Village, Bureti Sub-County.

Confirming the incident, Bureti Sub-County police boss Ali Abdullahi said the deceased identified as Mercy Cheptoo, 18, a Form One student at Getarwet Secondary School and her sibling Linner Chepkurui who was a Standard Two pupil at Getarwet Primary School were buried alive at around 6pm.

Another sister who was ferrying the clay soil scooped from the quarry escaped death, alerting neighbours to rescue her siblings.

It took four hours for the neighbours working together with the local police to retrieve the bodies of the two sisters from the site.

“After the police and members of the public retrieved the two from the quarry, they were rushed to Litein Mission Hospital in a bid to resuscitate them but were pronounced dead on arrival,” Ali added.

The neighbours told Citizen Digital that the sisters were scooping the clay to decorate their mud-walled houses according to the Kipsigis culture.

Their bodies have been moved to Kapkatet Level Four Hospital mortuary.

Reported by Bernard Rotich
Written by Lucy Akinyi