Photo-posing w***n, 31, slips into raging waters, dies on date with fiancé in Nandi

A search mission for a 31-year-old woman, who slipped and drowned in Chepkiit Dam in Nandi County last Sunday (August 30), entered Day Six on Saturday, September 5, with family members camping on the banks of the dam, hoping to retrieve Dorcas Jepkemboi’s body for burial.

So far a contingent of private divers and emergency response teams from Nandi and Uasin Gishu Counties have been deployed on the body-retrieval mission.

“We have seen the two teams employing the same search methods day in, day out since Sunday. For over five days, none of their efforts have borne fruit. It is about time they change tack,” the deceased’s brother, Victor Kiptoo, told K24 Digital.

“The waters are raging, and I think a more complicated approach should be adopted,” he added.

Jepkemboi, a resident of Kipsaos in Keiyo South, Elgeyo-Marakwet County, had gone on a picnic at the dam with her fiancé last Sunday, when she slipped and fell into the waters.

K24 Digital understands that the deceased was posing for a picture, when she fell into the dam.

Jepkemboi’s family accused the emergency response department in Nandi County of laxity, saying despite raising the alarm early enough, it took them long to arrive at the scene.

The deceased’s relatives further said police took three days to get to the scene despite a report being filed on Monday, August 31 -- less than a day after the incident.

Jepkemboi’s father, Luka Kiptoo, said logistical costs of travelling from Elgeyo-Marakwet to Nandi on a daily basis was weighing them down.

“We have to commute on a daily basis from Keiyo South to Nandi, while harbouring hopes of retrieving my daughter’s body. However, with each passing day, that hope appears to fade. A body retrieval exercise that has lasted one week, is excruciatingly agonising to the family of the deceased,” said Mzee Kiptoo.

Persons living around the dam have urged the Nandi County Government to cordon off Chepkiit Dam until the rains subside.