Body of Sunday School pupil who drowned in Aberdares retrieved

Nyeri, Kenya: A sombre mood gripped Mweiga village in Kieni, Nyeri County after a Sunday School pupil slipped and drowned into a pool in the expansive Aberdares forest.

Milkah Waruguru, 13, who was also a Standard Seven Pupil at Mweiga Primary School, was in an expedition in the vast national park on Friday, when she excused herself to go and wash her hands in the nearby pool.

The pool is located about one-hour drive from the main park gate, and it is also a recipient to water fall, christened, Queens' Cave Falls.

According to Acting Mountain Region Conservation Area Assistant Director Simon Gitau, the Falls are situated in an attitude of about 3,200 metres above sea level.

Following the Friday afternoon tragedy, a rescue team from Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) and Mt Kenya National Park were dispatched to the scene to help retrieve the body.

It is reported that Waruguru removed her shoes and advanced to the water, but after stepping on a rock so as to wash her hands, she tripped and plunged into the pool and efforts to rescue her were futile," said Gitau.

The rescue team was deployed on Friday evening and they camped at the scene until Monday morning when divers from Kenya Dive Club, led by Henrik Rasmussen and their KWS counterparts located the body and retrieved it.

The body was removed to Mary Immaculate Mortuary in Mweiga.

Francis Muraya Kimani, a relative who accompanied the girl's father, Nelson Njoroge, said the deceased was in a group of other Sunday School pupils from Mweiga PCEA Church.