1998 Nairobi bomb blast survivor memories of the day he 'died'

Abraham Muthogo who survived the 1998 bomb attack in Nairobi, during the interview in Hurlingham, Nairobi, yesterday. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

Have you ever wondered what dying feels like? Ask Abraham Muthogo.

He might throw in an occasional carefree chuckle but that cannot distract you from his harrowing narration.

On this day 20 years ago, Mr Muthogo was literally on the brink of death. Even though he still does not understand how, or why, he survived a bomb attack that ended 213 lives, he is happy to be alive.

“It is true what they say—your life flashes before your eyes. Highlights of your life hurriedly blaze past in no particular order. I remember feeling like I was walking back and forth in a dark tunnel. Your brain stops, you feel so relaxed," is how Muthogo describes his near-death experience.

"I heard a sweet and soothing voice urging me to let go. It felt calm and peaceful. The voice was so convincing that I almost surrendered, but the picture of my one-year-old son quickly appeared before my eyes. It is my son’s image that convinced me to be strong and not to give in to the tempting voice.

"Such moments remain fresh in your mind for a lifetime. You can never forget a single detail about them."

Muthogo remembers the catastrophic morning.

“It was extremely chilly. We had our tea at 10am as usual. Rose, the lady who served us tea, was meant to be away because of the bankers’ strike but reported to work that day."

Because of the strike, most staff of Cooperative Bank of Kenya, where Muthogo worked, were absent. Owing to the limited personnel, the bank’s door was locked and the customer flow controlled.

At around 10:20am, while seated in his cubicle on the ground floor of Ufundi Cooperative House, Muthogo and Dennis, his colleague in the next cubicle, heard a loud blast.

“I walked down the hallway, towards the glass wall, to see what was happening."

But he never found out what caused the bang, at least not in that moment. He never even made it back to tell Dennis what had happened.

Muthogo says when he reached the glass wall, a sturdy force shattered the glass. It swept through and hurled him across the street. 

As he was flung out of the building, a second, more forceful blast occurred, and the American Embassy and adjacent buildings such as Ufundi Cooperative House came tumbling down. At least 213 people were killed and close to 4,500 injured.

Muthogo, Dennis and three others survived. However, they lost 10 colleagues. Everyone who was on the first floor, which housed a college, was killed.

Muthogo does not recall much about what happened immediately after the blast.

“A lady woke me up; I was conscious. She bundled me and two other survivors in the back of her BMW and drove us to the Nairobi Hospital.”

The three were the first survivors to be taken to Nairobi Hospital.

“It was very chaotic. As I was still in the casualty section, Dennis was wheeled in and I heard doctors debating whether he was dead or alive. I shouted that he was alive and they shouted back, telling me to shut up because I was in a very critical condition,” Muthogo says.

His parents came much later. His father, fearful of what he might find, remained at the door. But his anxious mother rushed to his bed to find out how he was. He needed surgery to fix his broken skull and various cuts. 

A month later, after he was discharged, Muthogo attended the funeral of one of his colleagues in Nakuru and when he returned to Nairobi, he went back to the scene of the bombing.

“The site was cordoned off but I could still see the floor plan, where my cubicle was, some stationery. It was quite a moment.”

Muthogo returned to work almost immediately, but things were not the same.

“Additional staff were hired but it was very gloomy. But life goes on."

And indeed, life went on. Muthogo is now 48 and has four children. He left Cooperative Bank and is now the CEO of Miradi Capital, a corporate advisory company.