Four people including two minors drown in separate incidents

Four people, including two minors, have died in separate suspected drowning incidents in Mombasa, Kwale and Kiambu counties, police said.

The victims included two girls aged eight and nine.

The first incident was reported in Mavirivirini, Kwale County, where the two girls drowned in the Dukuduku River.

Their parents said that on February 10, the children had gone to fetch firewood in Mwatate village when they decided to venture into the river for swimming sessions.

Witnesses told police that the two later drowned.

The bodies were retrieved from the water and handed over to the family for burial in accordance with Islamic rites.

In Mombasa County, a body was found on the shores of the Indian Ocean at Bahari Club Beach in Nyali.

The victim had no identification documents when the body was discovered on February 10, 2026, police said.

The body was moved to the mortuary pending identification and an autopsy.

In Mugutha, Juja, Kiambu County, a man was found drowned in Ruera Dam.

Police said a casual labourer working at Ruera Estate as a gardener, identified as Geoffrey Irungu Mwangi, had gone to swim at the dam when he was carried away by strong waves and was unable to get out of the water.

He drowned at the dam, where his body was later discovered.

His clothes were found by the side of the dam before divers from Kiambu County were called and retrieved the body. It was taken to the mortuary pending an autopsy.

In a separate incident in Muumandu, Konza, Machakos County, a man was stoned to death by a mob over claims that he had stolen chicken.

He was also accused of stealing a gas cylinder from a house when an alarm was raised, alerting residents who responded and stoned him to death.

Police said they are investigating the incident. The body was moved to the mortuary. Three chickens and a six-kilogramme gas cylinder were found at the scene, police said.

Police have discouraged mob lynching, terming it criminal.

Meanwhile, a herder was shot and seriously wounded in a cattle rustling incident in Maikona, Marsabit County.

Police said the victim was shot in the buttocks by gunmen who fled following a conflict over a grazing field. Officers visited the scene and said they were pursuing the attackers.

The injured herder was admitted to hospital in stable condition, police said.

Police said such attacks have been on the rise in the past month, a trend worsened by drought in the region.

They said the incidents have led to the theft of hundreds of livestock and left some herders dead and injured.