Two confirmed dead in Bamburi septic tank tragedy

A man tries to rescue his TV aerial before demolition of the Happy Bar. / BRIAN OTIENO

Mombasa county chief fire officer Ibrahim Basafar has confirmed that there are only two bodies inside the septic tank that caved in Sunday evening at Bamburi's Mwisho area of Kadzandani ward, Nyali subcounty in Mombasa.

Preliminary reports Sunday evening had indicated that there were about four people who fell into the 120 feet septic tank.

The tank was old, built more than 40 years ago.

“We have since confirmed that the bodies in the septic tank are two. One of those thought to have sunk was seen eating chapatti and beans at a neighbouring eatery and he is the one who confirmed to us that only two sunk into the pit,” Basafar, who is heading the retrieval operation, said Monday afternoon.

The two victims have been identified as Abdulaziz Abdallah and a matatu tout who is yet to be identified because no family member has come out yet to identify him.

They had gone to watch English Premier League matches at a video café that was built on top of the septic tank.

Basafar said the owner of the video café did not know that there was a septic tank beneath the café because the septic tank was built so long ago that there have been at least three different buyers of the land over the last four decades.

Efforts to retrieve the bodies began at around midnight Sunday by the drainage of the sewage from the septic tank that took about seven hours to Monday around 7.15am.

Basafar said efforts to retrieve the bodies will take about six hours once all the machineries needed are in place.

These include a shovel, culverts, lights, oxygen equipment, among others.

By 1pm Monday, all equipment were in place and the rescuers were only waiting for the county shovel to arrive.

Basafar said they could not send their officers into the septic tank without proper protective gear.

"It is sewage, not water. That means we cannot just send someone inside because there is a lot of methane," Basafar said.

Methane causes lack of oxygen and can damage the lungs.

That is why the fire officers had to retreat to figure out another way to retrieve the two missing bodies.

A sewage exhauster from the Mombasa county water department was used to drain the sewage from the septic tank.

"Unfortunately we had to work overnight. The exhauster drained the sewage from around midnight to 7.15am Monday," Basafar said.

He said there is need for machines to be deployed to do the recovery due to the nature of the septic tank.

"What we have planned is that we are waiting for a shovel. We need a machine that can hold someone in protective gears, including breathing apparatus, who can go into the septic tank," Basafar said.

The breathing apparatus is necessary because at 60 feet below the surface, oxygen depletes thus the need for artificial oxygen.

"We have asked the Happy Bar owner to allow us some access to the ill-fated septic tank because it is the only area that can be used to access the septic tank," Basafar said.

The shovel has a bucket that will protect the rescuer from any falling debris.

The county government has also ordered for culverts which will be used by rescue officers inside the septic tank when retrieving the bodies.

"The reason is because the soil is so lose and will cave in any time. Once you remove anything in the septic tank, it will create space into which the lose soil will drop," the chief fire officer said.

"We don't want to take our officers inside if not covered in culverts because the culverts will protect the officers from any falling lose soil," Basafar said.

Lights have also been ordered to light up the septic tank, which is dark, at 120 feet below the surface.

"Once we have the machineries at the close of business today we will have done the work," Basafar said.

County lands executive Hussein 'Amadoh' Mohamed, MCAs Mohamed Gago (Magogoni) and Fatma Kushe (Kadzandani) and county chief fire officer Ibrahim Basafar at the scene./ BRIAN OTIENO

A bulldozer brings down Happy Bar to create way for the shovel. / BRIAN OTIENO