The sea seems to be angry! And after every uneventful and smooth boat ride in Lamu, passengers only thank their stars for the safe journey.
Residents are still trying to come to terms with the latest tragedy on August 13, where 10 family members of a politician perished in one of the most tragic incidents at the island.
Boat tragedies in Lamu are not a new phenomenon, and residents are calling for measures to ensure maritime safety.
For one to reach or get out of Lamu island, the only probable means is through the sea, and thus the use of boats and other vessels is inevitable.
Observers have noted that boat accidents are at times more tragic than road accidents due to the fact that few people know how to swim, when they find themselves in the unfamiliar territory.
On Sunday last week, Lamu ODM politician Shekuwe Kahale lost his entire family after a boat they had boarded from Kizingitini town in Lamu East to Manda airport capsized due to rough tides at the Manda Bruno area.
The boat was carrying the politician, 10 of his family members (his wife, four kids, aunt, sister and her three children) and the boat coxswain.
The sole survivor was the politician, who swam for over eight hours during the rainy night before reaching an inhabited island called Majunguni, where he was found by a search team the following day.
The bodies have so far been recovered and buried at cemeteries in Kizingitini and Lamu town.
On Thursday last week, Kahale moved listeners to tears as he narrated the darkest day of his life, when he was unable to rescue his entire family and watched as his children, wife and relatives died while pleading to him to save them.
The politician recalled how he tried to rescue his children and relatives before he was overpowered by the rough tides at sea.
Kahale, a former fisherman, said he tried to have six children hold onto him for over eight hours as he tried swimming to safety, but due to the immense fatigue and dizziness that had plagued them, he watched as they released their tiny and frail grasps on him and fell into the deep ocean one by one.
“I could see some boats from far but no matter how loud I tried to scream for help, they couldn’t hear me. Some of the kids were so young. My last born was just two. The last child I had died at around 6pm on Sunday. I swam the entire night before I spotted land, and by then it was already dawning. I don’t know how to live with this. It's too much for one person,” he said.
MAY DAY WITHOUT HELP
Kahale appealed to the national and county governments to increase marine patrols, which should be functional 24-7 to rescue people when accidents occur at sea.
He believes his family would still be alive if there had been active marine patrols on the Indian Ocean.
“The kids held onto life for over four hours for God’s sake, and I believe that was enough time for them to have been saved if there had been patrols,” he said.
Emerging details, however, show that most of the boat’s occupants either didn’t have their life jackets on or had put them on wrongly.
Kahale still had his life jacket securely on when he was found by the rescue team.
Warnings by the meteorological department and other players for boat operators and passengers to observe safety at sea, especially during rainy and windy days, normally go unheeded, as coxswains continue to speed and overload, risking the lives of many.
The Kenya Maritime Authority has on many occasions urged boat operators to observe maritime regulations and for the passengers to also play a part by only boarding vessels that observe the rules, but many continue to ignore the calls.
KMA director general Cosmas Cherop blames the high number of casualties in recent boat accidents in Lamu to lack of personal Floatation Devices on board the boats, such as life jackets.
“No life would have been lost if the vessel had met all the maritime requirements, including having adequate life jackets on board and ensuring all passengers were wearing and knew how to use them,” he said.
Cherop said the authority has taken several measures to ensure less or nil accidents at sea. He cited maritime safety education workshops, safety inspections, donation and distribution of life jackets, donation and distribution of navigation and anchor lights, participation in enforcement patrols and provision of search and rescue services.
He called on all seafarers to observe safety first and urged travellers not to sail a vessel before wearing a life jacket.
“Safety first. Don't board a sail vessel before donning a life jacket,” Cherop said.
On June 29, the KMA distributed more than 200 life jackets to boat associations in Lamu town to encourage them to comply with maritime laws and regulations.
The move targeted coxswains and sailors and encouraged them to use the lifesaving gear in their day-to-day operations.
Speaking then, KMA board director Ishmael Mboya called upon all associations that received the life jackets to act as goodwill ambassadors of the authority by ensuring all passengers aboard their vessels wear life jackets.
He also asked all boat and dhow operators to have all their vessels registered by the KMA before operating at sea.
Mboya also urged boat operators to register all passengers before vessels take off for any given destination to enable ease of identification and rescue efforts in case of sea accidents.
"Many a time, boat accidents occur at sea and it becomes complicated to establish the number of casualties and survivors in such a boat. It is high time we ensure the number of passengers in a given boat is recorded before the boat or dhow leaves,” he said.
CRACKDOWN ON ROGUE SAILORS
Meanwhile, the authority has launched a crackdown on tourist boats and dhows which have already been put on the spot for openly flouting maritime rules.
Lamu KMA inspector Alex Munga says most coxswains operating tourist vessels are bent on pleasing tourists rather than observing safety at sea, which not only endangers the lives of tourists and the operators but also that of other sea users.
He said his office is working with the Maritime Police Unit, the Kenya Tourist Police Unit and the office of Lamu county commissioner Joseph Kanyiri to carry out the crackdown.
The Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) Lamu says the lack of proper maritime response infrastructure, including boats, staff and facilitation from the national and county governments, has made it difficult to deal with disaster at sea.
CIPK Lamu chair Abubakar Shekuwe says Lamu lacks a clear plan on preventing and dealing with maritime accidents, and that the response in many cases is always late and often comes after many lives that would have otherwise been saved have been lost.
He said in most cases, many die because they lack basic swimming skills, especially women and young children.
Shekuwe called for a maritime patrol and rescue unit to be formed to patrol the Indian Ocean in Lamu 24-7 to promptly detect any accidents, offer timely rescue services and save lives.
“The unit can comprise but not be limited to the navy, local divers and maritime police, who must be given adequate facilitation from the national and county governments. These are disasters that can easily be avoided with a perfect mitigation and preventive plan,” Shekuwe said.
Shekuwe urged residents and visitors, but more especially women and children, to equip themselves with basic swimming skills that can come in handy when there are disasters at sea.
Due to the Muslim culture that forbids women from swimming in public, many women have found themselves unable to acquire the much-needed swimming skills since they have nowhere to do it.
“Whenever there is a boat accident at sea, you will notice many women and children die compared to men,” said Shariffa Mukhsin, a mother of four from Langoni area in Lamu town.
"Here, according to our religion, you are not to be seen naked by anyone else apart from your husband. Many men and youth use the shores of the Indian Ocean to practise swimming. We can't join them because we are women and if we are found doing that, only Allah knows what could happen to you. We can't even swim in swimming pools in hotels either, because such are also manned by men. Ours is a sealed fate and only God will keep us safe as we travel at sea."
Many can only hope that all industry players will do something to cut down on the numbers of lives being lost at sea.
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