Missing student dies after being rescued at Mt Longonot
A student who was reported missing on Thursday after he went for a hiking session at Mt Longonot in Nakuru County has died.
The Nyahururu Elite Secondary School student died after being rescued on Friday and airlifted for treatment at a Nairobi hospital by a multi-agency team, but he was declared dead on arrival.
Confirming the news, Naivasha Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) Mutua Kisilu said a multi-agency team that resumed search and rescue efforts on Friday morning found the boy approaching the mountain’s peak.
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According to Mr Kisilu, however, the boy had bruises on his hands, which indicated that he had fallen along the way and was also breathing heavily by the time he was found.
On Thursday, the school Principal, Simon Gacheru Macharia, said that 26 Form Four students and 10 teachers went for the hike together with another group of about 70 people.
Two hours into the hike, one of the students, identified as Enock Balemba, aged 17 years, reportedly became restless and told one of his schoolmates that he could not continue.
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The student, who is the school captain, opted to sit down and remain behind but then suddenly stood up, ran towards the thickets, and disappeared.
The teachers then decided to report the matter to the Longonot KWS camp, where KWS officers joined the search team until 8 pm, but the student could not be traced.
The rescue resumed on Friday morning when they found him.
In 2017, a 21-year-old university student who went missing with her boyfriend for nearly a year during a hiking expedition in Mt Kenya was found dead.
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Game wardens found the decomposed body of Ms Yvonne Mwendwa in Mt Kenya Forest, ending an 11-month search.
Ms Mwendwa’s mother, Ms Jadrine Kanyua, said authorities contacted them and confirmed that the body was that of her daughter.
The student at Kirinyaga University in Nyeri County disappeared with her boyfriend, 22-year-old musician Dennis Kirimi while hiking Mt Kenya in September 2016.
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The whereabouts of Mr Kirimi remain unknown.
Investigations had initially pointed at a suicide pact or a possible abduction, but detectives were yet to find conclusive information on what transpired.
An extensive search led to the discovery of a suicide note in a hostel in Kerugoya, Kirinyaga County, that the two reportedly shared.
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