Vihiga family discovers missing kin died in Fort Ternan crash
Susan Ludenyi, 33, who died in the Fort Ternan bus crash in October 2018. It took her family three months to realise that she had died. She will buried in Sivalu village in Vihiga on February 1, 2019. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Susan Ludenyi did not have a phone and therefore never informed her family she was coming home.
- She had differed with her employer whom she had worked for for only one month.
- The Vihiga family finally learnt that their kin was among the five whose bodies had been lying in the mortuary.
A family in Vihiga has lived the last four months in agony as they searched for their kin who travelled to Nairobi for the first time in September 2018 in search of a job to help her take care of a young family and an aging mother.
But in mid-January 2019, the family of Susan Ludenyi, 32, who hailed from Sivalu village in Vihiga Constituency learnt that their daughter was among the more than 55 people who lost their lives in the Fort Ternan road crash on October 10, 2018 involving the Homeboyz bus.
They will now be burying her on Friday.
BODY IDENTIFIED
It was until January 23, 2019 that Ms Ludenyi’s maternal uncle, Mr Hezron Muyesu, and mother, Ms Margret Daisy, were allowed access into the Kericho County Hospital mortuary where they positively identified her body after seeing a mark on one of her fingers.
On Thursday evening, Mr Muyesu said the family had brought the body home and will be laying her to rest Friday.
The mother of two, a boy and a girl, did not have a mobile phone and so did not inform her family that she was travelling back home in October.
She had differed with her employer whom she had worked for for only one month.
EMPLOYER
She had been introduced to her employer by her friend whom the uncle identified as Carol. The employer is not known to her family.
Early this month, the Nation reported that five unidentified bodies were still lying at Kericho County Referral Hospital mortuary.
At the time, Kericho County Police Commander James Mugera said the bodies were of the victims of the Fort Ternan bus crash and no relatives had turned up to collect them.
The Vihiga family finally learnt that their kin was among the five whose bodies had been lying in the mortuary all along without their knowledge.
“We have learnt that she differed with her employer who gave her money for transport to return home. She informed the friend who introduced her to the employer and boarded the bus back home but did not inform us.
“After looking for her in vain, we called the friend to try and connect us with her but we were surprised when she told us that she is aware she travelled back home,” said Mr Muyesu.
FRIEND'S ADVICE
In the process, the friend identified as Carol advised the family to find out whether she could have been among the five bodies that were still lying at the Kericho mortuary.
This was the turning point for the family that has lived in agony all along.
Together with her sister, Mr Muyesi started their journey to Kericho on January 22 and on January 23 they were shown her name on the list of people who died in the crash.
“We positively identified her after the mortuary attendant showed us all the bodies of the accident victims. The body is now at home and we are burying her tomorrow, February 1,” he said.
The aging Ms Daisy said the pain was too much for her to bear and wondered how she will single-handedly raise her two grandchildren and called on the government to help her.
