Four fishermen who went missing at sea in Kiunga, Lamu East on Thursday this week have been found safe.
Shee Issa Titi, 29, Arafat Issa Titi, 28, Mahmoud Mohamed, 33 and Mohamed Dili, 20 were fishing in the deep seas before their dhow was flipped over by rough tides and capsized, throwing all four of them into the waters at round 5.30pm.
The recovery was confirmed by the Lamu East subcounty Disaster Response Team representative Abbas Athman who said a search for the four was called off on Thursday night due to darkness hence reduced visibility but resumed at 4.30am on Friday.
The search was conducted by county disaster response team and local divers.
The fishermen survived by swimming for hours through the night and thereafter climbed a coral reef where they spent the night before they were spotted by the search teams the following morning.
“They swam the whole night but came across a reef which they held onto until we found them,”Athman said.
Lamu County Disaster Response Team leader Shee Kupi urged sailors and fishermen to adhere to directives from the weather office.
“We have been advised to stay away from the deep seas due to the strong winds and tides. I hope we obey such,” Kupi said.
Last Saturday, a similar boat capsizing accident happened in Lamu West involving five fishermen.
Two fishermen from the boat tragedy at Tenewi area in Mpeketoni are yet to be found.
Two others Athman Shee Bakari and Saidi Omar were able to swim to safety before they were rescued on the same day the accident occurred.
A third fisherman, Kassim Kocha, 34, was on Sunday afternoon rescued alive by the Kenya Coast guard officers after swimming for over 16 nautical miles to Magogoni area.
The five fishermen from Ngomeni in Kilifi county were on a fishing expedition on the Lamu waters before their boat was overpowered by rough tides and capsized at Tenewi area on the open seas between Lamu island and Mpeketoni, Lamu west at around 8pm.
It is suspected that Fakii Ismael, 17 and Abdulkarim Shali, 22 might have drowned and their bodies washed off towards the Somalia open landing.
“They might also have been eaten by fish. We called off the search this week and its unfortunate that their families won’t get to say bye,” Kupi said. BY THE STAR