Standoff at Embu Level Five mortuary after child’s body goes missing
Standoff at Embu Level Five mortuary after child’s body goes missing
A tense standoff played out on Monday morning at the Embu Level Five Hospital mortuary after a family arrived to collect the body of their child for burial, only to be told it could not be traced.
Relatives and friends of one-year-old Lee Delyn Mukundi, who died a week ago, had gone to the facility to pick up the remains ahead of a planned burial at their rural home in Kigumo Village, Runyenjes Constituency.
However, their plans were disrupted when mortuary attendants failed to produce the body.
The situation quickly escalated as mourners demanded answers, with some threatening to stage demonstrations in Embu Town if the body was not released for burial.
It later emerged that the body the family sought had been mistakenly released to another family and had already been buried at a homestead in Kiamuringa area, Mbeere South.
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Speaking to journalists, the child’s father, Kevin Mukundi, said the family was shocked after realising the body presented to them at the mortuary was not their son’s.
“When we inspected the body, we immediately knew it was not ours. It was the body of a six-year-old boy, yet our son was only one year old. The body could not even fit into the small coffin we had prepared,” he said.
The mourners briefly took their concerns to Embu Police Station, but were referred back to the hospital for administrative intervention — a move that further heightened tensions as delays persisted.
Embu County Chief Officer for Health Patrick Mukavi later visited the mortuary and confirmed a mix-up had occurred. He said legal procedures had been initiated to allow for the exhumation of the wrongly buried body in Kiamuringa to facilitate identification and correct the error.
Mukavi also said the county health department would cater for burial expenses, noting that the family had already made preparations before the mix-up was discovered.
The family later left the facility visibly distraught, saying they were awaiting action by the county government to resolve the matter and bring closure to the ordeal.
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