A multi-agency team has launched a search for a woman, Jemima Oresha who fell into the Thompson Falls in Nyahururu Sunday afternoon.
Oresha was reportedly said to be taking pictures with her brother, Zablon Mungafu. Oresha posed for a photo atop a stone next to River Ewaso Narok but she slipped and fell off.
The deceased had travelled from her home in Kitale to visit her relatives in Nyahururu on Saturday when she decided to visit the falls, her brother says.
“On Sunday, she said she could not go back to Kitale before catching a glimpse of the famous tourist attraction. When we reached the site she was very excited to see the falls. She said it was a site to behold and insisted that I take photos of her while standing on a stone next to the river, two metres from where I was,” Mungafu told Nation.
“I had finished taking her picture and as she was returning to where I was, she slipped and fell into the river and was swept away by the raging waters as I watched. I could not do anything as the water was moving at a very high speed,” he added.
Security officers at the falls were alerted and a rescue mission was then launched.
The family is now appealing to the authorities to get more divers to help with the rescue mission.
“We appreciate the good work being done by police, Red Cross personnel and the Laikipia fire brigade but we urge the county to send more divers to the scene,” Milton Luvokha, another relative appealed.
Ongoing heavy rains in the area, Nyahururu Sub-County Police Commander Geoffrey Mayek said, have been a challenge in the rescue mission.
Local living downstream have, however, been asked to alert the police should they see her body.
Tourists who frequent the falls have been asked to be cautious. Thompson Falls is 74 m high and 2360 m above sea level