Bodies of victims killed in a bus attack in Mandera, Kenya, by Shabaab Islamists on November 22, 2014 are ferried to a morgue in Nairobi/AFP
As of Saturday night when the bodies were transported to the Chiromo mortuary from Mandera, three bodies had yet to be identified.
But from 8am on Sunday morning, families and friends of those suspected to have died, made their way to the Chiromo mortuary.
“Members of our family were here last night but they were told it was too late to view the body,” Shem Mwangu told Capital FM News.
“My daughter and others went to the City Mortuary yesterday evening but they were redirected here and when they got here they were told to return this morning at 9am,” James Kilonzi explained.
On arrival at the Chiromo mortuary, the families were taken through some counselling before being taken in to view the bodies and were taken through more grief counselling after.
Even then, they wanted to know what assistance the government would give them in burying their loved ones.
“I am a cleaner,” Kilonzi said by way of explanation.
“My nephew has left behind a one and a half year old baby, a wife and four siblings. They were his dependants,” Richard Bundi told Capital FM News.
The families also demanded that the government take urgent action to address the security situation in northern Kenya.
“You are encouraging our youth to take up every possible income generating opportunity yet they are not safe there. Who will help northern Kenyans overcome decades of underdevelopment? Who will go there now unless you create a buffer zone between Kenya and Somalia and stop with the armchair declarations,” Samwel Omwando, who lost a nephew, proposed.
Mandera Governor Ali Roba on Saturday said his county government would help those who lost their loved ones with their burial arrangements.
Deputy President William Ruto on Sunday also said the Office of the President was in the process of negotiating some sort of assistance for the families who lost loved ones in the Saturday morning Mandera massacre.
The bus bound for Nairobi was hijacked five kilometres from the Kenya-Somalia border after dawn broke.
Non-Muslims were ordered out of the bus, told to lie face down on the ground before they all shot in the head.
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