Villagers mourns 24 year old teacher caught up in Mandera Bus attack

Nyamira, Kenya: Heavy rains pounded Ting'a village in Nyamira County as news trickled that a villager was among 28 Kenyans slain in the Mandera massacre.

Eric Nyarunda Masara was barely 24 and was teaching in a privately owned primary school in Mandera.

Villagers braved the chilly and misty evening and thronged Eric's home as they tried to digest the shocking news. The weather itself was befitting the sombre mood that punctuated the village.

An uncle, Wilson Masara said the young man's mother was restrained from taking her own life after she learnt that her dear son was no more.

According to Eric's father, Thomas Marasi, Eric finished his college studies last year and opted to go for a job in Mandera.

He was returning home in the ill-fated vehicle when heartless killers suspected to be Al Shabaab militia hijacked the bus and sprayed 28 travellers with bullets.

Marasi said they suspected their son had died when he could not be reached on phone and their fears were confirmed when his body was identified at the Chiromo Mortuary in Nairobi on Sunday.

Eric's uncle, Wilson Masara who is a retired Air Force Officer wondered why the national government was too lax in stemming insecurity incidences.

The family asked the government to help offset burial expenses and assist the parents since Eric was their only child who had obtained college education.