Four children die after collapse of sand quarry in Kwale

Four children died after a sand quarry collapsed on them at Mabatani Village in Waa Location within Kwale County.

Ismail Mwarimo aged 8, Juma Mwarimo 12, Kassim Mwawale, 11 and Sheba Kidonga, 11, died as they were taking bath at the quarry in preparation for evening prayers on Friday.

Addressing journalists on Saturday morning, Mohammed Mwarimo who lost two children said the incident took place at around 6.30pm.

He noted that the children were five in number but Mohammed Kidonga, 11, escaped death by a whisker as he was only covered on the lower side of his body.

“They had gone to fetch water on springs which are found at the quarry and as they were taking bath the sand collapsed on them,” he said.

Salim Mwawale who is the father of Kassim Mwawale explained that the event was brought to their attention by some women who were wailing, forcing them to speed up the prayers.

He added that the rescue operation took them almost three hours as the children were covered by heavy blocks of sand such that they could not establish their exact location.

“We dug using spades and hoes for almost three hours and that is when we found all covered together leaning on each other as if they were bonded together,” he said.

Led by Ramadhan Mwadime, the villagers now want the quarry which is owned by Said Kuhenderwa who is a village elder closed, accusing him of failing to observe safety.

COMPLAINED TO LOCAL CHIEF

Mr Mwadime said they had filed complaints to area Chief Mohammed Gakurya who stopped its operation but Mr Kudenderwa ignored the order.

“We have been pushing for the closure of this quarry due to safety concerns and also the fact that it is near a water source where villagers fetch water for domestic usage,” he said.

The quarry owner who looked tense defended himself saying the quarry has been operating for the last three months under his supervision without witnessing such an incident.

However, he bowed down to pressure, accepting the closure of the quarry in order to avoid encountering heavy losses in future.

“This incident happened as per the will of God. I have always been here and yesterday (Friday) we stopped working at 8am agreeing that we will meet on Monday morning,” he said.

Separately, Kwale County Executive for Land, Mining and Natural resources Ali Mafimbo said his office is planning to plant one million trees at all quarries to avoid such incidents.

He added that there is also a Bill on quarrying which has been taken to the county assembly in order to ensure that children are not involved in quarrying activities.

“We are so saddened by this incident, therefore, we are going to push for the enactment of this Bill in order to mitigate incidents of this nature,” he said.