NEWS
22-01-2023 by redazione
The death toll of Kenyan nationals rises to four after a marine safari boat capsized in front of Garoda Beach in Watamu on Saturday morning.
The boat was carrying 13 Italian tourists and 16 Kenyans, according to a statement from the chairman
of the Watamu Beach Management Unit, Vincent Kahindi, said the boat.
They would be three women, probably one of them a minor, plus an eight-year-old child who would not yet be recovered from the waves.
Strong currents and waves reportedly made it difficult for the Kenyans, who were unfamiliar with the sea, to be rescued, while the Italians managed to board the other boats that were in the area. Those who saved themselves without damage were positioned on the roof of the boat, while those underneath got stuck or hit by the same boat and struggled to climb back up.
This is the case of some compatriots of a certain age who were hospitalized. One of them is still in non-critical and stationary condition, and others were examined and discharged with various bruises. The rescue operation was carried out by Kenya Wildlife Service officers, in addition to crews from other "blue safari" boats.
Beach workers, led by Francis Karisa, complained to the Daily Nation about the lack of lifeboats, especially during emergencies.
"During emergencies, it becomes difficult for people to be rescued easily because we don't have proper life-saving equipment here," Karisa said.
The Italian Embassy in Kenya, which has been following the whole affair from the beginning through Honorary Consul Ivan Del Prete and consular assistants Marco Cavalli and Simone Ricci, confirmed, according to local authorities, that all the Italians on the boat were rescued. Crucial was the contribution of an Italian doctor, Franco Ghezzi from Milan, who was on the beach where the first rescues were carried out.
"We were at Garoda Beach," the doctor tells Ansa, "we saw four or five boats in the distance and shortly afterwards there was a big commotion. One of the boats had capsized and the others were trying to get the occupants who had gone overboard on board."
Within minutes, the marine park rangers' speedboat also arrived on the scene.
"First they landed ashore a Kenyan man with a baby girl who was already in desperate condition, in full hypothermia," Ghezzi explains, "then a woman, also from Africa, who was dying. Finally came an Italian man who was struggling to walk. I made him vomit and he expelled a lot of water from his lungs."
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