Tragedy strikes as Homa Bay glutton chokes to death during eating contest at funeral

In keeping with the spirit of competition, trust Kenyans to tempt fate even at the most ridiculous of places. No better place could this have been evident than at a funeral in Nyang’iela area in Homa Bay County.

The burial turned tragic after a man bit more than he could chew and choked to death while in a mock eating competing with his friend.

What began as an eating contest just for fun between a mourner surnamed Otange with his unidentified friend turned terribly disastrous when the former was midway his third plate.

Just when Otange was struggling to greedily wolf down his meal, he began choking, with chunks of the food getting stuck in his wind pipe.

Unfortunately, his frantic efforts to dislodge the food with copious amounts of water bore no fruits. When it became apparent that Otange was staring at his grave, mourners who had been cheering him on dashed him to a nearby dispensary where he was sadly pronounced dead on arrival.

Induce vomiting

As is the custom in most parts of rural Nyanza, funerals are always characterised with feasting as a way of paying last respects to a departed soul. Seemingly, whenever the grim reaper comes calling, it always presents a great opportunity for some hungry locals to make merry.

This case in Kasipul Sub County was not any different. Following the death of a local, mourners gathered at his home and as part of honouring him, they engaged in merriment during a night vigil.

In a bid to see who among them could eat more than the other, Otange with his friend engaged in an eating contest of sorts. With other mourners cheering them, the duo desperately tried to outdo each other, munching mountains of githeri and litres of water.

So tough was the competition that at some point an overwhelmed Otanga tried to induce vomiting by sticking fingers in his throat so as to eat more, much to the chagrin on elderly mourners.

Some of the embarrassed mourners told off the duo, warning them that what they were doing was tantamount to dancing on the deceased’s grave. However, pleas for the duo to stop the glutinous behaviour fell on deaf ears as they went on unfazed.

Upon pronouncement of his death, Otange’s remains were taken to a morgue in the nearby Oyugis town, leaving saddened locals in gripped in sorrow.