Body of missing student found in mortuary

A file photo of the Technical University of Mombasa. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

The body of a Technical University of Mombasa student, who had been missing since Saturday, was found on Thursday at the Coast General Hospital mortuary.

Timothy Mwirigi, a first year Civil Engineering student is said to have left his friend Samuel Gacheri in the hostel at 8.30pm on Saturday never to return.  

Gacheri said his friend left and promised to be back shortly. He had left his mobile phone with his friends.  

 “We waited for long and assumed he had gone to his house at Kaa Chonjo,” said Gacheri.

SEARCH MOUNTED  

When Mwirigi failed to show up the following day, his friends mounted a search before later reporting his disappearance to the university’s security department.

TUM Dean of Students Joel Owino reported the matter to Makupa Police Station on January 21, 2020.

“Our search in hospitals around the school were unsuccessful until we arrived at Coast General Hospital mortuary where we found his body,” said Mr Owino.

Mwirigi’s body had decomposed, an indication that it had stayed in salty water for some time.

Police reports said an unidentified body was first seen on Tuesday night on the shores of the Indian Ocean.

ENGINEERING STUDENT

The body was taken to the Coast General Hospital mortuary on Wednesday.

The cause of the student’s death is yet to be established. This is the second death of an engineering student from the institution in less than six months.

In October last year, Caleb Kiplangat's body was found in Junda, Kisauni Sub-County.

Kiplangat was a first year Mechanical Engineering student who had joined the institution in September 2019.