Nyeri water company employee drowns in fish pond

Nyewasco workers retrieve the body of their colleague, Martin Mwangi, from a fishing pond at their sewer treatment plant in Nyeri Town on October 27, 2016. He drowned on Wednesday in unclear circumstances. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mwangi was reported missing on Wednesday morning shortly after reporting on duty.
  • A guard who was patrolling the ponds said that the deceased was last seen using the bucket to scare away birds.
  • Guards later reported in the next patrol report that they saw the bucket and the stick that Martin was using floating in the 2.7-metre pond.
  • Efforts to locate the deceased bore no fruit until in the evening.

An employee of the Nyeri Water and Sewerage Company (Nyewasco) died after falling into a fishpond at a treatment plant on Wednesday.

The body of 24-year-old Martin Mwangi was discovered floating in a fishpond by guards at the company’s main treatment plant located on the outskirts of Nyeri Town.

The deceased was reported missing on Wednesday morning shortly after reporting on duty.

He had been employed to scare away predator birds at the fishponds.

According to workers at the plant, Martin reported to work as usual and picked up his tools, a bucket and a stick, which he used to scare away the birds.

A guard who was patrolling the ponds said that the deceased was last seen using the bucket to scare away birds.

“I patrolled the area and he was scaring the birds and that was the last time we saw him,” said Ms Esther Nyaguthii, a guard at the plant.

STICK FLOATING IN POND

Guards later reported in the next patrol report that they saw the bucket and the stick that Martin was using floating in the 2.7-metre pond.

Efforts to locate the deceased bore no fruit until in the evening.

“We thought he had abandoned his duty and sneaked out of the plant,” added Ms Nyaguthii.

Guards on night duty would, however, report seeing a floating object in the pond, leading to a further search which revealed that Martin had drowned.

The body was retrieved from the pond Thursday morning by workers and officers from Nyeri Central Police Station.

Assistant County Commissioner John Marete said that investigations into the drowning have commenced.

“The body has been taken away in preparations for an autopsy as we conduct further investigations into the matter,” he said.

The body was moved to the Nyeri County Referral Hospital mortuary.