Two dead as family’s boat ride turns tragic at Mombasa’s Pirate’s Beach
Rescue operation at the Jomo Kenyatta Public Beach, also known as Pirate's Beach, after a boat with a family of four capsized at the beach.
A Memon family’s Christmas Day merrymaking turned tragic after a boat they were riding in capsized at Mombasa’s Jomo Kenyatta Beach, commonly known as Pirate’s Beach.
In the Sunday evening incident, the family of 12 from Nairobi lost two of their relatives, a man and a woman. One member is still in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Mombasa Red Cross Chairperson Mahmoud Noor said.
Infants aged between 3 and 5 months, who were part of the family during the incident, are in stable condition.
Nation.Africa witnessed the rescue process which involved different agencies among them Kenya Coast Guard and Kenya Red Cross.
The cause of the accident has not yet been established.
Rescue operation at the Jomo Kenyatta Public Beach, also known as Pirate's Beach. One woman died after a boat they were riding capsized at the beach.
Increased number of holidaymakers
Yesterday, Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) had intensified holiday-beach-safety awareness campaign to sensitise the public on water safety precautions.
For the past three years, beaches along the Kenyan coast have not witnessed increased number of tourists due to Covid-19 restrictive measures until this year.
The campaign, organised by KMA, Coast Professional Lifeguards, Kenya Wildlife Service and other players is aimed at ensuring safety of holidaymakers visiting the beaches over Christmas and New Year, especially at the most-visited Jomo Kenyatta Beach where activities now run 24 hours a day.
“Professional lifeguards have taken up watch of the beaches with KMA ensuring visitors stick to the dos and don’ts at the recreational area. We are striving to have zero percent incident during festive season,” said KMA chairman Hamisi Mwaguya.
Head Maritime Safety KMA Luke Samba said they were assured meteorological department that there would be no strong winds in the next few days.
“We have been assured by weatherman there would be not strong winds and that the beaches will be safe so it was our duty to deployed different staff in all beaches along the Coast and Lake Victoria to ensure there's safety during festive,” said Mr Samba.
