Family comes to terms with events that made them bury wrong body

A very fresh grave at a cemetery. [Courtesy]

A family is coming to terms with events that led them to bury a body they mistakenly took to belong to their relative. 

A body identification led the family from Kapetebeswet in Bomet to bury the body of Zeddy Chumo, 101, leaving behind that of their kin, Grace Tabsabei.

A week after the burial, a family from Marumbasi in Bureti showed up at AIC Litein Mission Hospital mortuary to pick the body of Chumo, only to be shocked when the mortician presented to them Tabsabei’s body.

Chumo’s grandson Stephen Kirui said the bizarre development threw into confusion ahead of burial that was scheduled for yesterday.

According to Kirui, they took the body of their grandmother to the hospital’s mortuary on December 7. The same day, Tabsabei who had been admitted at the hospital died and her body was taken to the mortuary where the two elderly women who had never met in life met at the cold room triggering the case of mistaken body identity.

Tabsabei family spokesman Starnely Ruto said they were shocked on Friday to receive a call from the hospital informing them that they might have buried a different woman.

Dr Elijah Kerich, AIC Litein Mission Hospital medical superintendent said the name tags might have been mismatched.