Tragedy struck residents of Ruiru in Kiambu County following the death of three people in a tragic heavy cargo-unloading incident.
The Three were confirmed dead on Friday June 28, 2024, by Ruiru Police Commander Alex Shikondi.
Shikondi while confirming the deaths said that the three perished while offloading granite from a trailer.
According to the police boss, the deceased were offloading the cargo which had been transported to Ruiru from the Industrial Area.
He further noted that the incident involved eight people who got into the container to offload the cargo.
“The incident involves a trailer which had transported granite stones from the Industrial Area to the owner here in Ruiru. When the cargo arrived, the driver parked the trailer. Eight people got into the trailer to help offload the granite,” said Shikondi.
Granites kill Three in Ruiru
However, the police boss said that the arrangement of the granite stones in the container posed a risk, which subsequently led to the tragic incident.
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According to him, the stones had been arranged on the left and right sides of the container, with the center part left empty.
Tragedy struck when an attempt to remove one of the granites led to all the granites falling to the center of the trailer covering the offloaders.
The Ruiru police commander said that four people managed to jump while the cargo covered three others cutting their lives short.
“When these people got into the container, the unfortunate incident happened when all the granite stones covered them after one was removed.
Four jumped out of the trailer and fell outside while unfortunately three were covered by granite stones leading to the loss of life,” he added.
One on the other hand was left injured and rushed to hospital for treatment, with the police commander noting that the injured was in critical condition.
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He further made an appeal to businessmen and people hired as offloaders to always value safety first while dealing with heavy cargo.
“I would like to urge businessmen who deal with bulk cargo like this one and those hired to offload them to always think about the safety of their lives first.
The owners of such cargo were also advised by the Police to use forklifts while loading and off-loading and stop using humans for such work.
Witness recalls last moments
A witness of the incident who was part of the off loaders narrated the last moments saying that he heard screams while he was inside the shop where the granites were being stored.
“When the incident happened there were three people who were still stuck inside the container. We were already in the shop to store the granite that we had offloaded when we heard people screaming back in the trailer,” he said.
“We found that the three had already been covered by the cargo”
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