How wedding joy turned into tears for Mwingi couple
The couple whose wedding is at the centre of the Saturday Mwingi accident that left 32 people dead was deliberately kept in the dark about the tragedy until after the function, it has emerged.
Speaking for the first time since the tragedy occurred, the groom, Mutua Mbuvi, 75, and his bride, Veronica Mutua, 70, recounted how they decided to proceed with the ceremony after the bus carrying the choir and several relatives took too long to arrive at the wedding venue, Nuu Catholic Church at Nuu township, seven kilometres from the Enziu River where the tragedy occurred.
“We arrived at the Nuu Catholic Mission fairly early on a fateful day but we were forced to wait for hours as the bus carrying the choir and some relatives and guests could not make it to the church because the river was swollen. We were in constant communication with them and we advised the driver to remain patient and wait for the waters to subside,” said a distraught Mbuvi.
He narrated how when it reached 1pm, the priest, running out of patience, advised they start the ceremony.
“He suggested that we proceed with the ceremony hoping that the other guests would join us later because it was getting late,” said Mbuvi.
The couple, which lost 10 relatives in the accident including their two daughters and seven grand-children, said soon after the ceremony, they noticed some unease with the priest and the best man repeatedly interrupting the event to pick calls.
There were a lot of disruptions because they were constantly on phone, little did we (groom and bride) know that news about the tragedy was filtering in.
It was not until the ceremony was over that the sad news was broken to them.
“We had a feeling that something was wrong because, by the time the ceremony ended, my best man was nowhere to be seen,” said Mbuvi told People Daily.
“It was not until the very end that the news was broken to us, we rushed to the scene to be met by gory images of bodies strewn all over the river bank, I tried to jump into the swollen river because it made no sense to me to continue living but I was restrained. I’m yet to come to terms with the tragedy.”
The couple, however, does not regret holding the white wedding.
“It was significant for me as I was on the path of returning to Christianity after decades of digressing,” Mbuvi said.
The peasant farmers married in 1966 in a traditional ceremony. They were not bothered with marrying in church until Mbuvi recovered from a sickness. “After recovery, I vowed to become a staunch Christian. This called for Cathechism and marriage in church,” he told PD on phone.
Yesterday, Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu called for calm as the victims are being identified. Speaking when she met relatives of the victims at Mwingi Level Four Hospital, Ngilu said the exercise would help avert possible body mix-up and further trauma to the bereaved. “I feel your pain. I know your hearts are heavy with grief and my heart bleeds for every family that lost a relative in the horrific accident.
“But given that the demise of your loved ones was due to drowning and most of the bodies are not in good condition, we pray that you bear with us as we strive to ensure proper identification, preservation and preparation of the bodies for a decent send-off,” she said.
She also reaffirmed her administration’s commitment to supporting the affected families and the Catholic Church in every possible way during this trying moment.
Meanwhile, search and recovery operations have been concluded at the scene of the accident.
According to the authorities involved in the operation, the final death toll stands at 32.
