Body of woman who jumped into river with her baby found

River Nyamindi

River Nyamindi in Kirinyaga County.  A woman jumped into the river with her baby strapped to her back on May 4, 2024.

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

The body of a woman who plunged into the flooding Nyamindi River with her baby strapped to her back at Kabiroini village in Kirinyaga County has been recovered.

The body of the deceased, Maureen Wangui, 29 was spotted by residents on Monday evening at Kamwangi village, ten kilometres away from where she drowned.

“Finally the body of our daughter has been found and now we shall embark on burial preparations," said Mr Stephen Kinyua, an uncle to the deceased.

Earlier the body of her daughter, Precious Wairimu had been retrieved by the police.

The family said the duo will be buried together after the completion of burial preparations.

“We are planning to give the mother and her daughter a decent send-off," another relative, Rose Wanjiru said.

Kirinyaga East Sub-County police commander Johnson Wachira said the body of the deceased was taken to the mortuary immediately it was pulled out.

“The body was ten kilometres away but we have managed to retrieve it," he said.

On Saturday morning, Wangui sneaked out of her grandparents' home and went to the river where she allegedly threw herself together with her five- year-old baby.

A watchman who was guarding a Coffee Factory witnessed the shocking incident and raised an alarm, attracting scores of residents.

The residents combed the river banks in search of the woman and her daughter for hours.

It could not be immediately established why the woman made such a decision which baffled residents.