The National Police Service has said that 11 out of the 27 bodies retrieved from River Yala have so far been identified.
Speaking on Citizen TV, Police Spokesman Bruno Shioso said that out of the 11 bodies, four are members of the local community.
“Based on DNA profiling and nasal swabs from relatives who were around 87, 11 were identified and released to their families,” he said on Monday.
Shioso noted that post mortem results indicated that some victims died of natural causes, some from drowning, among others.
He disputed earlier reports that the 27 bodies had all been recovered from the river, insisting that only a few had been collected from the river.
“Even the issue of all bodies were tied in sacks, it is true some were but not all, just a few. That is why I’m saying when you look at the findings of all post mortems done on the 27 bodies, they give a proper direction to follow for each of the bodies.”
Shioso urged the public to remain calm as the multi-agency team of experts conclude investigations.
Police in January launched investigations to establish the mystery around bodies dumped in River Yala in Siaya county.
Residents along the river banks had raised concerns over the increasing number of unidentified bodies retrieved from the river.
Human rights activists on a fact-finding mission claimed to have made a shocking discovery of bodies floating around in sacks while others had their heads covered in polythene bags.
Police confirmed that since January last year, 20 bodies had been retrieved from river Yala.
“We suspect the victims are killed elsewhere and bodies dumped here,” the Yala OCPD Charles Chacha said on phone.
“The bodies are chocking the small morgue with a capacity of 17 bodies at Yala sub-county hospital and should be disposed of,” he said. BY THE STAR