Three people have been left dead after a boat they had taken to watch a dolphin expedition capsized in Watamu.
Watamu marine national park and reserve warden Dadley Kiluhula confirmed the incident noting that the tragedy occurred after the boat was hit by a strong wave and capsized.
He said that the boat was carrying 15 foreign tourists and other Kenyans. So far they have managed to rescue 26 people.
Out of the 26 rescued, three are still in hospital but are currently in stable condition while the others were treated and discharged.
“The boat was among others that were watching dolphins in an area which has never had such an accident then suddenly their boat was hit by a strong wave it capsized,” he said.
The bodies of the deceased were found under the boat benches. Authorities suspect that they got stuck after the boat capsized.
Among those who died was a five-year-old child whose body was moved to Malindi mortuary while the other two victims will be buried later in the evening in accordance with Muslim traditions.
Condolence messages poured in from the county ward office with Watamu ward MCA Ibrahim Abdi expressing shock after the incident.
Abdi also dispatched a rescue team and equally called on the county government to invest in a swift response team to avoid similar incidents.
“We are going to reach out to our Blue Economy CS Salim Mvurya, Public Service CS Aisha Jumwa, Mombasa Governor so that together we can look for a way to have rescue boats that can respond quickly in future,” he added.
